There's no doubt that 2018 was a good year to be an Oredigger. From championships to awards, big wins to major upsets, and milestones to records, here are some of the biggest moments in Colorado School of Mines Athletics over the past year:
 

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JANUARY

JAN. 4 - Women's basketball gets Mines' first win of 2018, a 70-59 defeat of Westminster. It was the first of 187 head-to-head victories this year.  
 
JAN. 6 – Luke Schroepfer scores his 1,000th career point in a game against Westminster. 
 
JAN. 21 – Men's swimming wins the Colorado College Classic title over Colorado Mesa and the host Tigers.

JAN. 23 – Men's indoor track & field is ranked #1 in the nation for the first time in program history. They held the top spot for four straight weeks.

JAN. 27 – Cassidy Budge sinks a program-record nine three-pointers to lead women's basketball in an 89-66 win at Adams State. 
 

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FEBRUARY

FEB. 2 – Baseball starts its season with three games at the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park, going 2-1 on the way to a 37-win season. 

FEB. 6 – Emily Bailey scores her 1,000th career point in a win for Mines at Colorado Christian. 
 
FEB. 7 – Wrestling upsets #5 CSU-Pueblo to end their season 10-2, their best dual record in the NCAA era. 
 
FEB. 8 – Former Mines steeplechase national champion Hannah Briggs is elected to the RMAC Hall of Fame.

FEB. 9 – Emily Garnier is named the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year in women's soccer for the second consecutive year.
 
FEB. 16 – Men's basketball upsets #14 Fort Lewis, 79-68, as Mines debuts the new Blaster mascot on Rock the Lock night.
 
FEB. 24 – Men's indoor track & field wins the RMAC indoor title at home, winning by 61 points in the second component of the RMAC Triple Crown.
 

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MARCH

MARCH 1 – Zach Rusk wins the RMAC's Summit Award for men's basketball. Later in the day, men's indoor track & field cleans up the RMAC awards with Connor McLean named Field Athlete of the Year, Luke Julian Rookie of the Year, and Matt Sparks Coach of the Year
 
MARCH 4 – Men's basketball is selected for its fifth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance after a 22-8 season. More awards for men's track & field as the husband-wife pair of Matt Sparks and Jocelyn Sparks are named the UTFCCCA head and assistant regional coaches of the year, respectively. 
 
MARCH 10 – Indoor track & field ends NCAA Championships with a combined 12 individual and one relay all-Americans as the men finished 11th and women 32nd. Connor McLean led the way with a national runner-up pole vault showing.
 
MARCH 13 – Baseball hits seven home runs in a doubleheader – including a record-tying six in the opener – sweep Sioux Falls.
 
MARCH 14 – Mia Wood earns the first of three all-America honors at NCAA Championships. She would earn two more in distance freestyle events over the next three days as Daphne Williams also was named all-America in the 100-fly.
 
MARCH 25 – Golf, led by medalist Tim Amundson, wins the Bob Writz Invitational at Bear Creek.
 
MARCH 31 – A pair of comeback wins helps Mines softball beat Adams State, giving coach Leah Glasgow her 100th career win.
 

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APRIL

 APRIL 3 – Football's Colin Peter is named the NFFCC Colorado Scholar-Athlete of the Year as the top academic player in the state. 
 
APRIL 8 – Baseball upsets #7 Colorado Mesa as Mikey Gangwish collects his 100th career hit. 
 
APRIL 11 – Baseball earns its first national ranking in program history, appearing at #23 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. 
 
APRIL 22 – Mikey Gangwish sets the Mines single-season records for home runs and RBI as baseball sweeps CCU and clinches a spot in the RMAC Tournament. 
 
APRIL 24 – Golf wins the RMAC title in dramatic fashion as Tim Amundson finishes birdie-birdie to help Mines beat Regis by one stroke. George Markham is the individual runner-up.
 
APRIL 29 – Men's track & field wins the RMAC Outdoor Championship to complete the first "Triple Crown" (cross country/indoor/outdoor titles) in program history. The women, after leading for the first two days, finish a best-ever third. Clara Larson sets the Mines season RBI record as softball wins its regular-season finale over CCU.
 
APRIL 30 – The Third Annual Blaster Awards celebrated the best in Mines Athletics in 2017-18 as baseball was the big winner with Team of the Year, Coaching Staff of the Year, and Most Improved Team wins. 
 

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MAY

MAY 8 – Mikey Gangwish is named the RMAC Player of the Year to lead the baseball postseason awards
 
MAY 9 – George Markham wins the NCAA Regional title in a sudden-death playoff, the first Orediggers to do it since Jim Knous in 2012. Earlier the day, head coach Tyler Kimble was named the RMAC Coach of the Year to lead four all-RMAC golfers. Mikey Gangwish walks off with a three-run, two-out home run as baseball beats MSU Denver in its RMAC Tournament opener. 
 
MAY 11 – 77 student-athletes earn degrees at spring Commencement. Baseball beats CSU-Pueblo 16-8 to advance to the RMAC Tournament final for the first time. 
 
MAY 13 – Baseball falls in the RMAC Tournament final, but is rewarded for an incredible season with the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
 
MAY 16 – Matt Sparks is named the RMAC Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year and Gina Coleman is the Women's Female Freshman of the Year in the RMAC's year-end awards. Mikey Gangwish is tabbed the D2CCA and NCBWA Regional Player of the Year after hitting .378 with 76 RBI and 22 home runs. 
 
MAY 23 – Softball's Clara Larson is named all-America at arguably the most competitive position, shortstop, after a season in which she hit .425 and slugged .839 with 64 RBI. George Markham wrapped up an exceptional season with a T20 finish at NCAA Championships in Alabama
 
MAY 26 – Jake Pinkston wins the national title in the pole vault – the first field title in Mines history – to lead the men to 10th place. The Orediggers had plenty of podium finishes including Gina Coleman's fourth-place discus showing and Patrick Weaver's fourth-place finish in the 800m as he closed his career a nine-time all-American. 
 
MAY 29 – Mikey Gangwish and Trevor Kehe are named all-America by the D2CCA and ABCA. 
 
MAY 30 – Mines is named the winner of the RMAC All-Sports Competition Cup for the third consecutive year. 
 
MAY 31 –Jerod Goodale departs to take over the baseball program at his alma mater, Fort Hays State; Robby Bales is named interim head coach and hired officially on Aug. 7.
 

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JUNE

JUNE 6 – Joe Popp, Mikey Gangwish, Trevor Kehe in baseball and Clara Larson in softball are all named Academic All-Americans. 
 
JUNE 14 – Mines Athletics finishes sixth in the Learfield Directors' Cup, the best in school history. 
 
JUNE 15 – Gina Coleman comes in fourth in the discus at the USATF Junior Outdoor National Championships in Indiana. 
 
JUNE 19 – George Markham is named all-America by the GCAA/PING
 
JUNE 20 – Mines track & field earns a national-best five Academic All-America awards with Josh Evans, Nathanael Williams, Molly Reicher, Megan Wenham and Chloe Cook all earning recognition.
 
JUNE 21 – Jace Selsor is named the ABCA/Rawlings National Gold Glove recipient at first base.

JUNE 27 – Men's swimming, baseball, and wrestling are the RMAC Brechler Award winners for having the top GPAs in the conference in 2017-18
 

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AUGUST

AUG. 24 – Volleyball – starting five freshmen on opening day - officially starts the 2018-19 season with two wins in the Oredigger Volleyball Classic. 
 
AUG. 31 – Both soccer teams win their season debuts as the women beat San Francisco State 3-0 and the men drop #15 St. Edwards' 2-0.      
 

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SEPTEMBER

 
SEPT. 1 – Brody Oliver ties an NCAA record with four touchdown catches in a quarter and the Mines record with five overall as football wins its opener 49-7 over Adams State. 
 
SEPT. 8 – Both men's and women's cross country win their opening races at the Colorado College Invitational. 
 
SEPT. 15 – Football stuns rival #9 CSU-Pueblo, 35-21, to improve to 3-0. 
 
SEPT. 16 – Women's soccer beats Colorado Mesa 1-0 for its sixth consecutive shutout to open the season, a program record. 
 
SEPT. 28 – Volleyball beats Dixie State in five sets – a win that would prove important in the RMAC title hunt. Johnny Haist scores his 50th career goal in men's soccer's 2-0 win over MSU Denver. Two days later he would add a hat trick against CCU to help Mines improve to 9-1-0.     
 
SEPT. 29 – Football demolishes Colorado Mesa 72-31 to win the Nyikos Cup, producing a program-record 797 yards of total offense. 
 

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OCTOBER

OCT. 10 – For the first time ever, Mines has five teams ranked in the national top 10 at the same time – men's cross country at #3, women's soccer at #4, women's cross country at #5, men's soccer at #9, and football at #9.

OCT. 12 – In a showdown that ultimately determined the RMAC title, Jennifer Kendall scored in overtime to help #4 Mines beat #16 UCCS on the road 2-1. 
 
OCT. 13 – Football beats Fort Lewis 44-14 to improve to 7-0 as Brody Oliver breaks the RMAC record for career touchdown catches
 
OCT. 15 – Johnny Haist scores in overtime to give men's soccer its program-record 12th consecutive win in a 2-1 game at MSU Denver

OCT. 17 – Oredigger legend Marv Kay is elected to the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. 

OCT. 20 – Men's and women's cross country sweep the titles at the Rock Pre-Nationals in Pennsylvania as the men score just 19 points to blow away the field. 
 
OCT. 21 – Men's and women's soccer both clinch their RMAC regular-season championships on the same day as the men beat Fort Lewis 3-1 and the women blank Regis 1-0 at home.      
 
OCT. 27 – In one of the highest-scoring games in college football in 2018, the Orediggers rout South Dakota Mines 84-42. It was their highest scoring output since 1890 as Brody Oliver et the Mines career receiving record and Scott Marshall set the RMAC single-game PAT mark during the game. Men's soccer beats Regis and women's soccer blanks Colorado Christian – both 2-0 – as both teams complete unbeaten RMAC seasons.

OCT. 30 – Emily Townsend and Jason Zobott are named the RMAC Defensive Players of the Year and Kevin Fickes the Women's Coach of the Year to headline the conference's postseason teams.   
 

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NOVEMBER

NOV. 2 – Volleyball beats UCCS 3-1 to claim a share of its second straight RMAC regular-season title. 
 
NOV. 4 – Men's and women's soccer win the RMAC Tournament cups on the same day at Stermole Field as the women beat #15 UCCS 3-0 and the men drop Colorado Mesa 2-0.
 
NOV. 6 – Drew Stokes is named the RMAC Setter and Freshman of the Year to lead Mines volleyball on the all-RMAC teams. 
 
NOV. 9 – Women's basketball opens its season with a 53-40 win over UAFS. It is the first time in more than six years that the Orediggers play a game in their former home, Volk Gym, as volleyball hosts the RMAC Tournament at Lockridge Arena.
 
NOV. 10 – In a nationally-televised game, football beats Chadron State 49-20 to claim a share of the RMAC championship. 
 
NOV. 11 – Both football and volleyball join men's and women's soccer in being selected to the NCAA Championships. Mines will be the only NCAA Division II school to qualify six teams (including men's and women's cross country) to the fall NCAA tournaments.
 
NOV. 14 – Johnny Haist is named the D2CCA Regional Player of the Year after scoring 23 goals and six assists in 2018. 
 
NOV. 17 – In icy conditions in Denver, men's cross country, led by individual champion Grant Colligan, wins the NCAA South Central Regional title as the women take third. Both teams qualify for nationals. Football hosts a postseason game in Golden for the first time since 2004.
  
NOV. 21 – Grant Colligan is named the Regional Runner of the Year and Chris Siemers Regional Coach of the Year by the USTCCCA. 
 
NOV. 27 – Volleyball's Drew Stokes is the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, the first in program history. 
 
NOV. 28 – Soccer is well-represented on the All-America teams as Jason Zobott and Johnny Haist earn honors for the men and Emily Townsend and Shannon Mooney for the women. Soccer also cleans up in the Academic All-America announcement as Jason Zobott and Ben Overholt earn awards for the men and Jennifer Kendall for the women.
 

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DECEMBER

 DEC. 1 – The men's team earns a national runner-up finish and the women tie their best-ever finish in fifth at NCAA Cross Country Championships in Pittsburgh. 
 
DEC. 5 – Mines Athletics leads the RMAC with a conference-best 66 RMAC All-Academic honors in the fall season. 
 
DEC. 6 – Wrestling beats #9 Western Colorado for the first time since 2002-03, their fifth straight win over a top-25 team. 
 
DEC. 7 – Men's basketball gets its most lopsided RMAC win in eight years, besting Western Colorado 109-60 on the road. 
 
DEC. 11 – Brody Oliver and Geoff Keating are named Academic All-Americans in football. 
 
DEC. 12 – Brody Oliver and Cameron Mayberry pick up All-America awards after record-breaking seasons.

DEC. 14 – Mines awards degrees to 32 student-athletes at the winter Commencement in Lockridge Arena. 
 
DEC. 16 – Brittany Simpson wins her 100th career game as Mines women's basketball beats Regis 65-60. The final competitive game of 2018 for Mines is a win as Ben Sonnefeld scores 25 points in an 80-73 win over Regis for men's basketball. 
 
DEC. 20 – Mines Athletics finishes the fall #1 in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings. 
 
DEC. 21 – Cameron Mayberry is the Colorado Player of the Year and Gregg Brandon the Coach of the Year in the NFFCC postseason awards.