Chasing dreams from Alaska to Aveiro
Long before Rachel Cockman led the Mountaineers women’s basketball team to the RMAC semifinals, she was racing across the remote Alaskan wilderness in dog sledding competitions. Growing up in the remote town of Cantwell, Alaska, she first fell in love with the freedom and independence of mushing. A career in basketball couldn’t have been further from her mind, and geographically, her future high school court was over an hour away.
But despite all odds, Cockman found her way to Western Colorado University, and last spring, placed first in one of the top professional scouting camps in the nation. Now, the former Mountaineer captain faces an entirely new challenge – she will move to Aveiro, Portugal, to play professionally for Clube dos Galitos in the first division of Portuguese women’s basketball.
Summers Taking the Lead of New Western Women’s Wrestling Program
Taylor Summers is returning to Western as the head coach of the new women’s wrestling program.
Summers came to Western in the 2018-19 season as an assistant to head men’s coach Charlie Pipher. During his tenure with the Mountaineers, Summers helped coach 16 DII national qualifiers and nine DII All-Americans and helped the program to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 DII National Championship.
He took over the Chadron State College women’s wrestling team heading into the 2023-24 season, producing a program-best eight wins in his inaugural season leading the program.
Director of Athletics Miles Van Hee said, “It’s our pleasure to bring Taylor back to Western Colorado. He was an integral part of our men’s program for five seasons before embarking on a successful run as the leader of Chadron State’s women’s program. The start of our women’s program presents a fantastic opportunity for those recruits who want to leave their mark on creating the history and culture of the team. Taylor has shown himself to be the perfect leader for this opportunity.”
Mountaineers Land 125 on Academic Award List
One hundred twenty-five Western Colorado student-athletes were honored Thursday morning when the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2ADA) released the Academic Achievement Awards.
This year, the list topped 20,000 student-athletes (22,756) for the first time in the program’s history. Over the 18 years of the program, more than 190,000 student-athletes have been recognized.
At this year’s awards, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference recognized 939 student-athletes from the RMAC Western’s 125 honorees made up more than 13 percent of the on the list.
Student-athletes must have achieved a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher during the 2024-25 academic year, must have attended their institution for a minimum of two years, and been an active member of their team during the most recent academic year.
Nash picked as Player of the Week for first game performance
Western’s All-American quarterback Drew Nash was named the National Football Foundation – Colorado Chapter’s (NFFCC) player of the week after the Mountaineers’ first game of the 2025 season. Nash had a hand in five of the eighth-ranked Mountaineers’ six touchdowns in their 45-28 season-opening victory over visiting West Texas A&M on August 28.
Two of his three touchdown passes were Western’s first two scores of the game, a 17-yard touchdown pass to Caden Measner and a 5-yard touchdown throw to Kai Goetze. The first of his two touchdown runs were next as he scampered in from the Buffaloes’ six yard line early in the second quarter.
Nash added a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jace Perez midway through the third quarter before adding in another touchdown run, a 1-yard dive, late in the quarter. He finished the win with a game-high 95 yards on the ground while adding 190 passing yards on an 18-for-28 night.
