2021 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships – April 30 – May 2
Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl – Pueblo, Colo. [RMAC Network] [Live Results] [Championship Central]
 

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BACK IN THE POSTSEASON
This weekend, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will host its outdoor track & field championships for the first time in over two years. The Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Track & Field teams make their way south to Pueblo, Colo., on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for one of the most competitive conference championships in the country. The RMAC field features five men's programs ranked in the nation's top 25 and four nationally-ranked women's teams. Mines' men enter the weekend ranked #1 in the outdoor rankings for the first time in program history as the Oredigger women sit comfortably inside the top 50. At the last RMAC Outdoor Championships on April 27-28, 2019, Mines' men won it all and the women finished as runner-ups. This weekend features the pursuit of hardware and solidifying a squad for nationals with the always-sought low times and high marks.
 
FAN POLICY
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and CSU Pueblo have announced that up to 500 fans will be allowed to attend each day of the RMAC Championships. Tickets can be purchased in advance online or at the gate until capacity has been reached. Spectators in attendance will be expected to wear a mask 100% of the time and practice social distancing. Ticket purchasing and additional spectator information can be found on the RMAC's Championship Central.
 
WEEKEND RUNDOWN
Unlike typical track & field meets, this weekend's championships will run three days starting on Friday with a men's and women's team champion crowned on Sunday. According to the full schedule at the RMAC Championship Central, the very first action will be the women's heptathlon starting at 9 a.m. The first Oredigger action will be the decathlon opening at 9:25 a.m. Track events begin at 9:35 a.m. and the field action gets under way at 10 a.m. Saturday marks the final day of the decathlon which takes off at 9 a.m. with the track reopening at 9:30 a.m. and the triple jump runway heating up at 11 a.m. Championship Sunday looks similar with the men's shot put competing at 9:30 a.m. followed by the starter's gun at 11 a.m. Again, the complete schedule is linked above at the conference's Championship Central.
 
NETA AND EDDIE DEROSE THUNDERBOWL
This weekend marks Mines' third trip of the season to Colorado State University at Pueblo's Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl after spending the first two weeks of the spring at the CSU Pueblo Early Bird and the Spank Blasing Invite. The ThunderBowl serves as the home to CSU Pueblo football and track & field. The facility features 6,500 seats, a synthetic turf field, a 10-lane all-weather track, throwing, jumping and pole vault areas as well as a 27,000-square-foot field house. The ThunderBowl is touted as unique since it was built completely with external funds raised by "Friends of Football", a collection of Pueblo community members and University alums. It was constructed in 2008 and marked the culmination of a 20-year project to bring football back to CSU-Pueblo.

LOOKING BACK
Mines' last action was less than seven days ago as the Orediggers hosted the Mines Pre-Conference Invite at Stermole Track and Crouch Field in Golden, Colo. The home squads emerged with 15 new entries on the NCAA Division II Outdoor Qualifying list location at www.tfrrs.com including four automatic times and 11 provisional performances. The automatic qualifying started with Luke Julian in the 1,500-meter run, putting him fifth in the nation. Automatic action continued and closed the day in the men's 10,000-meter run as Kyle Moran, Dylan Ko and Dillon Powell punched their tickets to Michigan. Jake Mitchem nearly had an automatic run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as he broke the Stermole Track Record and came just .02 seconds shy of an automatic time. Grant Redmond went big in the high jump and pushed himself to sixth in the nation. Arvid Veidmark IV made it five straight weeks of program records in the shot put and improved his standing to 14th in DII. Also notable was true freshman Everett Delate busting off a provisional time in the 110-meter hurdles.
 
GOLD MEDAL GOALS
According to the meet program which is also available at the RMAC Championship Central, Mines' men and women boast 64 entries in this weekends' conference championships. While it would take a while to preview all 64, we can take a look at favorites to bring home gold. An early dark horse according to the entries and RMAC Performance list on TFRRS is Aryelle Wright in the 800-meter run. She's currently ranked fifth in the league with a seed time of 2:11.20, but top-seeded Yasmine Hernandez is not entered in the event which opens the door for Wright. Everett Delate presents a threat in the 110-meter hurdles as the third-ranked runner. Also watch for Danny Fuhr in the 400-meter hurdles as he checked in at #2 in the league. In the field events, Grant Redmond ranks #1 in the high jump while Connor McLean and Hunter Potrykus are #1 and #2 in the pole vault. Hannah Miller and Avery Herbold are also #1 and #2 in the women's pole vault. Fans can also watch for a pair of three seeds in the long jump featuring McLean and Sophia Collins.  Arvid Veidmark IV has the potential for three gold medals as he currently ranks #1 in the shot put, #2 in the hammer and #3 in the discus. Kathleen Tomon is trending up in the shot put as well with a #3 next to her name while Krista Carlo sits third in the hammer. Rounding out the favorites for gold is Hayden Sather as he looks to up his score for nationals in the decathlon.
 
RMAC SUMMIT AWARD
Earlier on Thursday, Zoe Baker was announced as the winner of the 2021 RMAC Summit Award for outdoor track & field. It marks the second RMAC Summit Award of Baker's career after she claimed the same distinction at the 2020 RMAC Cross Country Championships. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Summit Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average (GPA) participating in the RMAC Championships. Baker boasts an unblemished 4.0 with over 125 credit hours completed towards a degree in computer science. During the outdoor season alone, the Longmont, Colo., native has raced to eighth in the nation in the 10,000-meter run and 29th in the nation in the 1,500-meter run. She also broke the Stermole Track record in the 10K on her first attempt as a collegiate runner.
 
RECORDS KEEP FALLING
So far in 2021, Mines has thoroughly rewritten its program record book. To date there have been 42 new entries including well over six record-setting performances as Arvid Veidmark IV, Hannah Miller and the women's 4x400-meter relay team have reset the top mark multiple times. Veidmark IV did his work in the shot put, Miller in the pole vault and Randi Higashi, Amena Nelson, Layla Moriarty and Aryelle Wright in the relay. Joining those top performers were Connor McLean in the pole vault and decathlon with Wright also ranking #1 in the 800-meter run. Expect more records and top-10, all-time marks to fall this weekend and moving forward.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the first time in program history, the Colorado School of Mines Men's Track & Field team ranks #1 in the nation in the USTFCCCA Outdoor National Rating Index. The Oredigger men jumped from ninth in week four to the top spot in week five after a successful outing at the Mines Pre-Conference Invite in Golden, Colo., on Saturday. Mines made the leap thanks to six performances ranked inside the top six in all of NCAA Division II. Mines' women also checked in at 34th in the nation on their national list. Other familiar faces included Adams State's women at fifth and their men in 11th. CSU Pueblo's women claimed the seventh spot and the ThunderWolves' men were 21st. The men of UCCS took over 13th while the women took over 28th. Colorado Mesa's men ranked 19th with the Mavericks' women 23rd. Western Colorado's women rounded out the RMAC contingency in the nation's top 25 at 21st in all of DII.
 
LEARN SOMETHING NEW – SCORING AND AWARDS
This week we try to bring some useful knowledge applicable to the upcoming weekend. Scoring a championship meet and all-conference awards are nothing ground breaking, but some fans – old and new – could use a refresher/crash course. Team scoring features points assigned based on how individuals finish in each event. First place claims 10 points for the team, second place brings in eight points, third place is six points and then five, four, three, two and one point down to eighth place in any given event. For example, if Hannah Miller takes first place in the pole vault and Avery Herbold takes second place, as projected in the rankings, Mines' women would accumulate 18 points toward their team score. Hardware allocation in the form of all-conference honors is also based on placing. The top three finishers in any individual events and the top finisher in each relay are awarded First-Team All-RMAC distinction. Competitors finished fourth, fifth or sixth in individual events and the second-place relay are granted Second-Team All-RMAC accolades. Historically, the individual scoring the most points for his or her team is named the RMAC Athlete of the Meet. Every other major award is voted on by the coaches.
 
WHAT'S NEXT?
Mines' next event on the schedule is the 2021 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships on May 27, 28 and 29 at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich. However, it is likely the Orediggers will take part in a series of last-chance meets before nationals which will be announced at www.minesathletics.com.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines track & field on Twitter and Instagram at @csmtrack. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.