CoSIDA Cross Country/Track & Field Academic All-District Teams

GOLDEN, Colo. - In the midst of the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships in Michigan, Colorado School of Mines student-athletes have earned a national-best eight CoSIDA Academic All-District honors as announced on May 26.

The Oredigger men took up six of the 10 spots in Division II's District 6 as distance runners Duncan Fuehne, Dylan Ko, Jake Mitchem, Dillon Powell, and Loic Scomparin were joined by high jumper Grant Redmond. The women's squad was topped by distance runner Zoe Baker along with pole vaulter Hannah Miller. Impressively, all eight of Mines' honorees hold cumulative GPAs of 3.80 or above, and four are already Mines graduates. 

All eight advance to the ballot for the Academic All-America teams, which will be announced in June. Voting is carried out by the region's sports information directors, and all nominees must have a 3.3 or above GPA while holding sophomore or higher academic standing. The teams combine both cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field seasons. 

Fuehne, who graduated earlier this month with a B.S. in engineering physics, earned all-America honors in the NCAA 10,000m run Thursday night. He was USTFCCCA All-Region and RMAC Academic Runner of the Year during cross country season, then went on to win RMAC silver medals in both the indoor and outdoor 5K before standing on the podium in seventh in the outdoor 10K. He has also qualified for Saturday's 5,000m race. 

Ko, who has both bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from Mines, was a cross country all-American finishing fourth at NCAA Championships in November to tie the best individual finish in program history. On the track he earned a pair of all-America finishes indoors in the 3,000m and 5,000m, and was the RMAC bronze medalist in the outdoor 10K. He is slated to run in the NCAA 5K on Saturday. Ko was a Second-Team Academic All-American last year.

Mitchem, who has both bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering, was a USTFCCCA All-American in cross country finishing 13th at nationals. He went on to be an all-American in both the 3K and 5K indoors, and is now set to compete in Friday's NCAA 3,000m steeplechase final where he is chasing his second straight medal. A First-Team Academic All-American in both 2020 and 2021, Mitchem ran the then-#8 (now #10) all-time steeplechase in Division II history in April at Stanford. 

Powell, a chemical engineering major, made history Thursday night winning the NCAA outdoor 10,000m run for the first time in program history. He has had an exception 2021-22 season that saw him win the RMAC and NCAA regional titles and RMAC Runner of the Year honors in cross country, and an NCAA silver medal in the 5K to go with RMAC Runner of the Year honors indoors as he set the NCAA Division II record in the 5K during the regular season. In outdoor season, he won the RMAC 10K gold before doing the same at nationals, and still has another race to run in the 5K on Saturday.

Redmond, an electrical engineering major, has continued to lead Mines in the field as a junior high jumper. Redmond won the RMAC outdoor title clearing a personal-best and Mines all-time #2 2.12m (6-11.5), and he has nine event wins indoors and out this season as he prepares to jump at NCAAs on Friday afternoon. Redmond was a CoSIDA Second-Team Academic All-American in 2021 as well after finishing on the podium at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.

Scomparin, an environmental engineering major, has battled back after missing most of cross country season and qualified for NCAA Indoors in the 3,000m where he finished 17th. This outdoor season, he placed 12th in the prestigious Mt. SAC Relays 5K and was fourth in the RMAC Championships race to qualify for Saturday's NCAA Outdoors 5K final. 

Baker, who recently graduated with degrees in both computer science and applied mathematics & statistics, continues to add to her impressive list of academic accolades. A two-time NCAA Elite 90 winner and five-time RMAC Academic Runner of the Year (including in all three seasons in 2021-22), Baker is also a 10-time all-American including in cross country, the indoor 5,000 and 3,000, and the outdoor 10,000 this year. A two-time Academic All-Americans in 2020 and 2021, Baker will finish the year with the outdoor 5K on Saturday night after winning silver in the event at RMACs.

Miller, a quantitative biosciences & engineering major, continued to rewrite Mines' pole vault records in 2022. The junior cleared a program-record and personal-best 4.20m (13-9.25) this outdoor season, and won the RMAC indoor gold and outdoor silver. Miller took sixth at NCAA Indoors to stand on the podium as an all-American for the fourth time. A Third-Team Academic All-American last year, Miller is set to compete in the NCAA pole vault on Saturday afternoon.