Results

ALLENDALE, Mich. - Dillon Powell captured the NCAA Division II national championship in the 10,000m run to highlight five all-Americans on the first day of the national meet for Colorado School of Mines.

Powell surged to the finish in the closing laps to stand atop the podium for the first time in his career, winning Mines' first 10K title. Kyle Moran and Duncan Fuehne also earned podium spots in the men's 10K, while Zoe Baker and Molly Maksin finished ninth and 10th in the women's race.

Powell won the program's first national championship since Jake Pinkston's pole vault win in 2018 and first on the track since Mack McLain's indoor mile title in 2011. It capped a superlative 2021-22 year for the redshirt sophomore, who was the national runner-up in the indoor 5K as well as the regional and RMAC champion in cross country. 

The men's 10K was an entertaining strategic race as a trio of RMAC runners - Powell, UCCS' Afewerki Zeru, and Adams State's Awet Beraki - had to pull back an early six-second breakaway by Wingate's Tai Smith in the opening half of the race. Powell sat on Zeru's back through 6400m before allowing Beraki to the front; the Adams State runner fractured the frontrunning pack and threatened to pull away before Powell spanned the gap with 2400m to go and passed him with three laps left. Powell accelerated from there, closing on consecutive 1:02 splits to win by 10 seconds over Beraki in 28:44.97, with Zeru third for an RMAC medal sweep.

Meanwhile behind Powell, Moran and Fuehne ran the races of their lives to earn podium spots in sixth and seventh, respectively. Moran stayed in the front pack for the majority of the race and closed strongly in sixth to run a 10K PR of 29:13.15, the new #2 all-time performance at Mines; Fuehne, who had never run a sub-30:00 10K, broke out for a 29:29.82 performance to rally from off the podium to seventh in the final four laps with the new #6 Mines performance. Andrew Kaye finished 19th in 31:05.82. For Moran it was his milestone 10th career all-America honor, one of only six Mines men to achieve the feat; Powell notched his fifth and Fuehne his first. 

In the women's 10K, Baker and Maksin ran 34:40.54 and 35:07.93, respectively, for ninth and tenth. Baker stuck with the lead group until the pack fractured late in the race as Asuza Pacific's Jennifer Sandoval won the title; Maksin moved up from 20th through the opening 5,000m and ran a consistent back half of the race to stay in 10th. Baker ties Heather Beresford as the most decorated woman in Mines track & field history with her ninth all-America honor while Maksin earned her fourth.

Earlier in the day, Jake Mitchem cruised into the 3,000m steeplechase final with a 8:49.98 time, the third-fastest in the field after a clinical preliminary run. Mitchem quickly moved up in the field to second position and was content to let Northwest Missouri State's Reece Smith set the pace, making no move to reel him in early on. Mitchem and Black Hills State's Keith Osowski comfortably ran 2-3 for the bulk of the race with the top four finishers automatically advancing. The 2021 bronze medalist will complete in the final Friday at 5:15 p.m. MT. 

Luke Julian started things on the track in the 1,500m and set a quick pace off the start, creating a huge gap off the front on the second lap before being caught with 500m to go. He ultimately finished 10th in the heat and 16th overall in 3:49.36. In the Orediggers' only field action of the day, Hunter Potrykus had bad luck in the men's pole vault, attempting an entry height of 4.85m but recording no height. 

Day 2 of the NCAA Championships continues Friday with Grant Redmond in the high jump (1:30 p.m. MT), Aryelle Wright in the 800m prelims (4:15 p.m. MT), and Mitchem in the steeplechase final (5:15 p.m. MT).