RMAC XC Championships – Saturday, (W) 10:50 a.m. / (M) 11:45 a.m. [Live Results] [Championship Central]
Grand Junction, Colo. – Tiara Rado Golf Course
 
2019 RMAC XC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams begin their postseason runs this Saturday at the 2019 RMAC Cross Country Championships hosted by Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colo. It marks the first of three potential postseason races followed by the NCAA South Central Regional Championships and the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. With Tiara Rado Golf Course as the setting, Mines' men will seek their third-ever RMAC title in the 8,000-meter race while the women chase their first in program history on the 6,000-meter course. A title for the Oredigger women would mark history and a crown for the men would give Mines its third RMAC Championship in the last four years.
 
WEATHER REPORT
According to Google Weather, Saturday looks to be a nearly perfect day for 14,000 meters of racing. At 11 a.m., just after the start of the women's race, the temperature is projected to be 52 degrees with clear, sunny skies and a light breeze up to four miles per hour. The humidity is forecasted at 33 percent and there is currently no chance for precipitation. Those conditions are slated to hold all the way through the men's race with the temperature rising into the 60's. However, the volatile winds and climate of Colorado's Western Slope means anything can happen. That being said, proper attire would include light layers, sunscreen, a hat and fresh vocal chords for plenty of cheering.
 
COURSE PREVIEW
As previously stated, the RMAC Championships will feature a 6,000-meter course for the women and an 8,000-meter course for the men. The entire route runs over the groomed surfaces of Tiara Rado Golf Course including roughs and fairways while circumventing the greens. According to www.rmacsports.org, there are some gradual hills with one significant hill of 30 meters. Overall, the terrain is mostly flat and on grass. With Lookout Mountain as their training ground, the Oredigger men and women have historically thrived on flat open courses such as Saturday's setting.
 
ASSESSING THE COMPETITION
It should come as no surprise that Saturday's field will be loaded and grab all eyes in the DII running world thanks to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's world-class reputation. Overall, there are 16 teams competing on each side with 134 individuals running for the men and 130 for the women. However, five nationally-ranked men's programs and four nationally-ranked women's programs are where most of the attention will be. Men's squads appearing in the USTFCCCA's Top-25 include #1 Mines, #2 Adams State, #5 Western Colorado, #16 UCCS and #21 Colorado Christian. For the women, it's #1 Adams State, #3 Mines, #6 Western Colorado and #15 UCCS. Despite Mines' men and Adams State's women coming in as the favorites with their #1 national rankings, history has taught everyone that anything can happen at the RMAC Cross Country Championships.
 
HOW WE GOT HERE
The Oredigger men and women each competed in three races during the 2019 regular season and neither program finished lower than #2 in any of those competitions. Both teams kicked off the year with team titles at the UCCS Rust Buster Invitational as Chris Cathcart and Zoe Baker took individual gold too. Next up were the Oredigger women winning the team title at the Capital Cross Challenge which also served as their national preview in Sacramento, Calif. Mines' top performer there was Chloe Cook who raced to a bronze-medal finish. The Oredigger men appeared the next week at the Chile Pepper Festival in Arkansas and beat out 11 other NCAA Division I programs on the way to a silver-medal finish. Dylan Ko was the top individual in eighth place. Mines wrapped up its regular season at the FHSU Tiger Open hosted by Fort Hays State in Victoria, Kan. The Oredigger women claimed silver as a team and the men took gold behind Derek Steele's first-place finish. As you can tell, Mines put together quite the resume headed into the postseason.
 
RMAC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Mines' success at the conference level is relatively recent, coming in the last half decade. The Oredigger men won their first-ever RMAC crown in 2016 with a nearly perfect score, finishing 2-3-4-5-6. That stage was set after Dan Mahoney won the program's first-ever individual title the year before in 2015. Mines followed that up with another team championship in 2017 thanks to Grant Colligan's first-place finish and RMAC Runner of the Year honors. Last season, the Orediggers adjusted their strategy and took fourth as a team at the RMAC Championships before winning the South Central Regional Championships and running to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. As previously mentioned, Mines' women are still chasing their first team and individual gold medals. The Oredigger women's best finish in program history came in 2017 when the squad claimed silver.
 
BERESFORD ENSHRINED
Last weekend, six Orediggers were added to the Colorado School of Mines Athletics Hall of Fame. Among the six-member class was nine-time cross country and track all-American Heather Beresford. Heather Beresford earned more all-America honors than any other female student-athlete in Colorado School of Mines history, standing on the podium nine times during her decorated cross country and track & field career. A native of Colorado Springs, Beresford is the only two-time cross country all-American in Mines women's history (2003 and 2005). She led the 2002 team that went to nationals for the first time and the 2005 squad that finished a program-best fifth at NCAA Championships. On the track, she earned seven more all-America medals including two national runner-up finishes in the indoor mile and another in the distance medley relay. She also garnered a third-place finish in the outdoor 1,500m. Her versatility on the track was impressive, and more than a decade after graduating, her name still appears all over Mines' record book as she continues to hold the program records in the indoor mile and outdoor 1500m along with numerous top-10 performances. Her indoor mile time is still more than a second lower than any other runner in a program that has had five mile all-Americans since she graduated. She also set since-broken marks in both the indoor and outdoor 800m and 5,000m distances. Beresford earned her degree in mining engineering in 2007.
 
CALIFORNIA LOVE
The 2019 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships will be held in Sacramento, Calif., at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex on Nov. 23. Mines' women dominated their national's course last month at the Capital Cross Challenge, beating out 39 other teams including multiple DI programs to stand atop the podium. The RMAC Championships mark the start of the postseason and the South Central Regional Championships on Nov. 9 mark the final test.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
After the RMAC Championships, Mines will take a week off before traveling to Canyon, Texas, for the 2019 NCAA South Central Regional Championships hosted by West Texas A&M at The Range. Coverage information will be available the week leading up to the championships at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines XC on Twitter and Instagram at @csmtrack. They can also keep up with all of Colorado School of Mines Athletics all season long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.