RESULTS

VICTORIA, Kan. – The Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams put together a strong showing on Saturday as the men took first and the women placed second at the FHSU Tiger Open hosted by Fort Hays State at Sand Plum XC Course.
 
The Oredigger women claimed their silver medal behind the trio of Molly Maksin, Brin Strouse and Melina Endsley who finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Maksin and Strouse finished the 5,000-meter course side-by-side, posting times of 17:57.5 and 17:57.7 with Endsley on their tails in running 18:08.1. Mackenzie Duck (18:38.3) and Alex Raichart (18:49.3) rounded out Mines' scoring in 13th and 18th, respectively, as Sydney Fesenmeyer bumped opposing runners down from her position in 26th with a time of 19:06.2
 
On the men's side, Derek Steele fueled the Orediggers' first-place finish with his individual gold medal. Steele raced through the 8,000-meter course in 24:08.9 – nearly 20 seconds faster than anyone else in the field. Joseph Wolfe and Bo Raadam bolstered Mines' score with fifth-place and sixth-place finishes in times of 24:34.6 and 24:43.8. Rounding out the Orediggers scoring were Miller Kettle (25:11.2) and John O'Malley (25:21.8) as Kettle finished 14th and O'Malley finished 19th. Nathan Davis and Trevor Lockman represented the rest of Mines' top seven inside the top 30. Joe Vandiver and Andrew Kaye rounded out the Oredigger contingency in 42nd and 44th.
 
Overall, Saturday's field in the gold division featured 13 women's teams and 13 men's teams. The women's gold race had 117 competitors with four failing to finish. The men's gold race boasted 142 runners. Saturday marked the final race of the regular season for the Orediggers as they head to the 2019 RMAC Cross Country Championships in two weeks with the men ranked #1 in the nation and the women sitting #3.
 
Keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics. Fans can also follow Mines Volleyball on Twitter using the handle @MinesVolleyball.