Recognized as one of the top distance coaches in the nation, Chris Siemers completed his 13th season as head cross country coach at Colorado School of Mines, and 14th as an assistant track coach in 2024-25.
In total, Siemers touts five national awards as both a head coach and assistant coach to go along with five regional coaching awards as a track & field assistant. During the 2019-20 track & field season, Siemers was named the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Assistant Coach of the Year for the indoor season thanks to his elite work with the distance squad. He was also named the 2020 USTFCCCA South Central Regional Men's Assistant Coach of the Year after doing the same in 2015-16 in both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Siemers further boasts clout as a four-time USTFCCCA National Men's Coach of the Year in cross country thanks to National Championships in 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2024 with numerous regional coach of the year awards in cross country as well.
The 2024 men's cross country team collected its fourth national championship while Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge made history as the women's program's highest-ever individual finisher in third place. During the track season, Ramsey-Rutledge would go on to win the NCAA Indoor 5,000m championship and podium in both the 5K and 10K outdoors; Oredigger distance runners won seven NCAA medals overall in 2025 including Loic Scomparin's double-silver in the 3K and 5K indoors and third-place finishes by both Max Bonenberger and Emily LaMena in the 3,000m steeplechase outdoors along with Ramsey-Rutledge's 10K silver and Logan Bocovich's 10K bronze.
In 2023-24, Mines cross country again found podium finishes as the men came in second and the women third nationally, while the men claimed both the RMAC and NCAA South Central Regional titles. Track season saw 16 distance all-Americans for the Orediggers, highlighted by Loic Scomparin's indoor bronze in the 3,000-meter and fourth-place national finishes for Zoe Baker and Duncan Fuehne in the outdoor 10,000-meter. Mines distance runners were critical in helping the Orediggers capture the men's and women's RMAC indoor and women's outdoor team championships.
The 2022 Mines men's cross country squad won the program's third national title led by the first individual champion in program history, Dillon Powell. All seven men in the Oredigger lineup were all-America finishers in the top 35 for the first time ever. Mines' women finished third led by all-Americans Molly Maksin, Zoe Baker, and Grace Strongman. Powell would go on to win the NCAA indoor 5,000-meter title among a bevy of podium performances during indoor and outdoor season for the Orediggers, while women's distance runners keyed that program's first-ever RMAC Indoor team championship in the winter of 2023.
The 2021-22 campaign saw Siemers guide his distance squad to history on the track once again. Highlighting the year was Dillon Powell who was national runner-up in the indoor 5,000-meter run, won national bronze in the outdoor 5,000-meter run and capped it with a national title in the 10,000-meter run. In total, under Siemers' guidance, Mines' distance crew produced 21 of the Orediggers' 25 USTFCCCA All-America awards.
Siemers' efforts in 2020-21 proved historic once again. He guided the men's cross country team to their fourth RMAC title in the last five years while the women finished second as Dylan Ko and Zoe Baker swept the individual medals. Baker became the first Oredigger to win the women's race in program history. All eight men and five of eight women brought home All-RMAC distinction along with Loic Scomparin winning RMAC Freshman of the Year. During the indoor track & field season, Siemers saw the Oredigger distance crew haul in 20 USTFCCCA All-America awards with eight standing on the podium for USTFCCCA First-Team All-America status. That success carried into the outdoor season where Mines' distance runners racked up eight more All-America accolades including seven first-team honorees. Overall, Siemers played a key role in helping Mines' men take sixth in the nation during the indoor season and outdoor season which marks the highest finish for the men at either national meet in program history.
The 2019-20 campaign turned into Siemers' most historic effort to date. He guided the men's cross country team to a sweep of the RMAC, South Central and NCAA Championships marking the second national title in program history. The women's cross country team also made history by taking second at the conference and regional meets before claiming third in the nation. It was the women's first podium finish in program history. A total of nine Orediggers earned USTFCCCA All-America status in cross country including six men and three women. The men were led by Kyle Moran who posted the men's highest individual finish as fourth in the nation. Chloe Cook accomplished the same feat for the women by finishing seventh in the nation. Capping it all off were team-best scores of 133 for the women and 57 for the men. The men's 79-point margin of victory over Adams State was the largest gap between #1 and #2 since 1978. During the indoor track & field season, He touted the #1-ranked runner in each men's distance event according to USTFCCCA's #EventSquad rankings for the South Central Region. Siemers also coached four Oredigger men to NCAA qualifying marks in the mile, six in the 3,000, and eight in the 5,000. His men's distance group was unmatched, as no other event group in the South Central Region had as many qualifying performances or NCAA qualifiers than Mines' distance runners. Siemers and the Orediggers were scheduled to have eight entries in distance events at the NCAA Indoor Championships, which were more than all but eight entire teams. The NCAA Indoor Championships and the outdoor season were eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Siemers' expertise was the foundation of great success in the 2018-19 campaign. As head coach, he led the Oredigger men and women to a national runner-up finish and #5 national finish, respectively, at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Siemers was also named USTFCCCA South Central Regional Men's Coach of the Year thanks to Mines' regional gold medal on the men's side. During the track & field seasons, Mines' distance-medley relay raced to All-America honors with his distance group accounting for 15 other All-America honors between the indoor and outdoor national championships.
In 2017-18, Siemers guided the men's cross country team to their second straight RMAC title and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He also coached the women to a program-best second-place finish at the RMAC Cross Country championships. In the indoor track & field season, 11 Orediggers earned 13 All-American honors. During the outdoor season, Mines' distance runners brought home four All-American honors.
The 2016-17 season was another banner year for distance running at Mines under Siemers. In the fall, he led the men's cross country team to its first-ever RMAC and NCAA South Central championships, eventually placing third at nationals. The success continued during the indoor season as Dan Mahoney and Grant Colligan were all-Americans in the 5,000m, Logan Winfield in the mile, and the men's distance medley relay smashed the school record to set an all-America pace at NCAAs. Mahoney added a 10,000m outdoor all-America finish in the spring, as well.
In the fall of 2015, Siemers lead the Mines men’s cross country program the first National Championship in school history. The Orediggers got All-American performances from Marty Andrie (18th), Nathanael Williams (21st), Dan Mahoney (22nd) and Grant Colligan (33rd). Along with Seth Topper, Josh Hoskinson and Logan Winfield, Siemers’ Orediggers upended three-team defending champion and RMAC rival Adams State by 27 points (100-to-127) to claim the first team national title in school history in any sport.
For his efforts, Siemers was named the USTFCCCA 2015 NCAA Divsion II Men's Cross Country National Coach of the Year.
The 2015 season also saw Ann Miller of the women’s program earn All-American honors as the men’s and women’s team claimed each claimed victory at the Colorado College Invitational, and a top-five finish in every meet they entered. At both the RMAC and South Central Region Championships, the men placed second and the women third.
Mines remained one of the country’s powerhouse programs in 2014 under Siemers, combining for two team trophies, eight top-three results and a pair of top-10 scores at the Division II championships for the second time in three seasons.
Following wins at the Colorado College Invitational and FHSU Tiger Open, the men produced runner-up at the conference and regional races and timed fourth place at the national meet – the squad’s sixth straight top-five and 10th consecutive top-10 championship finish.
The women, runners-up at the CC Invite, gained momentum across the three postseason events, achieving fifth out of 15 at RMACs, third among 18 at regionals and 10th of 32 at the NCAA finale.
In 2012, Siemers guided the Orediggers to arguably their best season in program archives as both teams advanced to the national championships for the first time since 2005. With a program-record five runners inside the top-36 All-American threshold, the men claimed runner-up out of 32 teams, while the women obtained their third top-10 in 10 seasons in eighth.
The men, who spent the entirety of the regular season ranked in the nation's top-four – including a four-week stint at No. 2 – finished no lower than third at any meet, capturing the team title at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational and second place at both the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree and RMAC Championships.
Named the 2012 CaptainU Division II Men's Cross Country College Coach of the Year, Siemers saw the women rank inside the top-25 in all seven regular season ballots, highlighted by a season-high No. 13 in the final poll. The Orediggers had three fourth-place team finishes and took sixth at the Cowboy Jamboree behind a trio of Division I schools.
Prior to being named interim head coach in 2012, he was an assistant with the Mines cross country programs for two seasons, helping the men place fourth at the NCAA championships in 2010 and fifth in 2011.
During the 2011-12 academic year, the men's cross country and track and field programs finished fourth in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II Program of the Year standings. Mines ranked eighth in the award classification in 2010-11 and 2012-13 and seventh in 2013-14.
A 2004 graduate of Western State with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Siemers was a three-time cross country All-American during his collegiate career and a member of two national championship teams with the Mountaineers (2001-02).
Siemers was three-time all-state selection and Foot Locker All-American in 1997 as a prep runner for Fenton High School in Bensenville, Illinois. He twice earned all-state honors in track and field.
A two-time Olympic trials qualifier, Siemers broke the 18-year old Colorado state marathon record in 2011 with a time of 2:18.48 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon.
He and his wife, Paige, reside in Littleton.
