The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) honored its Hall of Fame Class of 2025 on June 10 at the Colorado Springs Marriott. The inductees included six individuals and one team — a prestigious group highlighted by Western Colorado University’s Lorie Moreno Roch.
Morena Roch, class of '88, became the Mountaineers' first women's national champion in 1988. She claimed the title in the 5,000-meter run at the NAIA outdoor championship.
Throughout her impressive collegiate career, Morena Loch earned NAIA All-American honors five times — in the indoor mile (1987, 1988), distance medley relay (1987), outdoor 5,000 meters (1988) and 10,000 meters (1988).
In her Hall of Fame induction speech on June 10, Morena Roch reflected on her time as a talented high school runner, and her initial success as a freshman at a different institution. She described how injury, and her own relentless pursuit of excellence that compounded the issue, led to her having to step away from training and competition for more than two years.
Encouraged by her mother to continue pursuing her degree, Moreno Roch eventually found her way to Western, with no intention of training or competing.
But her collegiate direction completely changed course when cross country and track and field head coach Duane Vandenbushe asked her to practice with the distance teams. It took some convincing, but Morena Roch finally made the leap, joining Vandenbusche's young women's team.
At the Hall of Fame induction, Morena Roch was accompanied by her husband Steve, who also boasts an All-American running career at Western. He earned his honor in the men's 3-mile run at the 1987 indoor national championship.
The evening's ceremony also recognized the RMAC's four major individual awards, including Western’s Dean Noble as the 2024-25 RMAC Man of the Year. The two-time All-American wrestler is Western Colorado's first honoree of one of the RMAC's major awards, and is the first wrestler to earn the RMAC Man of the Year honor.
Western head football coach Jas Bains also accepted his award as the 2024 RMAC Football Coach of the Year. It was Bains' second consecutive coach of the year award and third since earning his first in 2021.
(Gregg Petcoff is the assistant athletics director for communications at Western Colorado University and can be reached at gpetcoff@western.edu.)
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here