BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Colorado School of Mines men's distance medley relay earned All-American tributes for the sixth consecutive year on Friday and seniors Hannah Schuster and Russell Drummond both advanced to the finals in the mile at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama.
Comprised of Drummond, junior Frank Socha, freshman Austin Shaffer and senior Peter Jenkins, the DMR timed an eighth-place finish of 10:03.99, giving Mines its sixth straight All-American honor in the event and eighth in nine years since the event's inception in 2005.
The All-American accolade is the third for Drummond in his career as a member of the DMR, second for Jenkins and first for Socha and Shaffer.
In the mile, Schuster was the sixth of nine runners to advance, taking fourth in the first heat of the preliminaries with an at-large qualifying time of 4:52.31. Her new personal-record ranks second-fastest in program history and bettered her previous-best, set at the Grand Valley State Big Meet on Feb. 8, by nearly three seconds.
Drummond used a late charge over the final 100 or so meters to take second in his heat and second overall heading into the finals, missing the top mark by just 0.04 seconds to Ashland's Brian Baum with an automatic qualifying time of 4:11.36, the No. 6 result in Mines lore.
The finals are slated to get underway at approximately 3:15 p.m. (MST) tomorrow, beginning with the women's competition.
Sophomore Garrett Hoch, competing as an individual for the first time at the championships, placed fifth in the second heat of the 800 prelims and 16th overall in 1:56.42.
Junior Seun Ogunmodede, another first-time participant, took 15th in the high jump, clearing 6-6.75 (2.00 meters) on his third attempt at the height. Ogunmodede, the program's first qualifier in the field disciplines since 2010, will compete in the triple jump finals tomorrow, starting at 11:30 a.m. (MST).
In the men's 5000 championship finals, sophomore Phil Schneider and juniors Andrew Epperson and Sean Gildea finished 10th, 12th and 16th with respective times of 14:31.64, 14:35.32 and 15:04.24. Schneider's second-best time of his career ranks sixth-fastest in school history.
Along with Schuster, Drummond and Ogunmodede, Gildea will also be in action on Saturday in the finals of the 3000 at the CrossPlex Complex, set to begin at 5 p.m. (MST).
Free, live coverage of all the events is available at www.ncaa.com/liveschedule.
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