Lewis Crossover Invitational – Saturday, Oct. 7 – 9:45 a.m. CT [GLVC Network] [Live Results] [Meet Info] [Course Map]
Romeoville, Ill. – Lewis XC Course

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REGULAR SEASON FINALE
It may be hard to believe, but it's true. The Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams will run their final race of the 2023 regular season this Saturday at the Lewis Crossover Invitational. The Chicagoland event will be the biggest of the year so far for the Orediggers with 34 different programs including a total of 19 nationally-ranked teams. It will also mark the season debut for many of Mines' top runners and serve as a major counter towards selection to the field for the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The schedule has the women running 6,000 meters at 9:45 a.m. (CT) and the men racing 8,000 meters at 10:30 a.m. (CT).
 
WEATHER REPORT
Romeoville, Ill., located south and west of Chicago, originally had rain in the forecast for Wednesday night into Thursday. However, Saturday's outlook projects nearly perfect racing conditions. A high of 57 degrees and a low of 42 degrees may be chilly for fans in attendance, but will help keep runners comfortable as they traverse the 6K and 8K tracts, respectively. Specific to race time, the temperature will just be reaching 50 degrees with 77-percent humidity, a light breeze and minimal chance of precipitation. While the rain aforementioned rain could slightly slow the course, sunny skies all day Thursday and Friday should allow for plenty of drying. Fans planning to attend should wear layers, bring sunscreen, and expect a very fast race and a highly-competitive field.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
This weekend there will be live results with live splits as well as free live video on the GLVC Network. The live video will be produced by the student television station at Lewis University. Timing and live results will be provided by Bob Geiger of www.ILpreptoptiming.com.
 
COURSE PREVIEW
According to www.lewisflyers.com, the Lewis Cross Country Course was opened for competition in the fall of 2014. There are 4/5/6/8/10 kilometer, and one mile setup options. It is relatively flat with a 10-meter wide path for the competitors which appears to be all grass. The start and finish line are just south of Lewis Stadium with the course looping around the southern side of campus. Saturday's women's race will essentially be two full loops of the course totaling 6,000 meters. The men's 8,000-meter race will include two full loops and an extra rabbit ear just before the sprint to the finish. For those who are visual learners, maps of the different layouts can be found HERE.
 
GUEST LIST
As of the writing of this preview, there was not a complete list of teams planning to attend the 2023 Lewis Crossover Invitational. What we do know is that there are 34 schools from 13 different states entered to race. The men's side includes at least nine nationally-ranked programs. The women's field features 10 nationally-ranked or programs receiving votes in the national polls. In addition to the nationally-ranked squads, there are six regionally-ranked men's teams and six regionally-ranked women's teams set to compete. Overall, NCAA Division II is broken up into eight regions. Six of those regions will be represented on Saturday.
 
LOADED LINEUP
Pending injury, sickness, or any other unforeseen circumstance, Mines' lineups for the weekend are set. For the men, fans will get to watch Daniel Appleford, Logan Bocovich, Alberto Campa, Duncan Fuehne, Andrew Kaye, John O'Malley and JP Rutledge. On the women's side, it will be Margaux Basart, Imani Fernandez-Gorbea, Lexi Herr, Ashleigh Loe, Molly Maksin, Riley McGrath, Josie Mejia, Holly Moser, Callen Nash, Clare Peters, Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge, and Grace Strongman. Four of the seven Oredigger men are all-Americans in either cross country or track & field or both. Five of Mines' 12 women slated to run also tout all-American finishes at some point in their respective careers.
 
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
For those with curious minds, this appears to be the first trip to Lewis University for Mines cross country. That information is based on internal records dating back to 2009 and the TFRRS database housed at www.tfrrs.com which dates back to 2012.
 
LAST TIME OUT
By the time Mines' men and women toe the starting line on Saturday morning, three full weeks will have passed since their last appearance in competition. The Orediggers' last official races were at the Roadrunners Invitational hosted by MSU Denver at Washington Park on Saturday, Sept. 16. Molly Maksin led the women to team gold by finishing #7 overall. Jeremiah Vaille helped the men claim silver thanks to his individual bronze medal. The men trailed only NCAA Division I Air Force. The Falcons were ranked #17 in the nation at the time of the race and now sit #8 in the DI national rankings.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Not much has changed in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's national rankings since Mines last raced. The preseason polls featured the Oredigger men #1 and the women #3 in all of NCAA Division II. Since then, Mines' rankings have not changed through four regular-season editions of the national list. Also in the rankings are six other men's teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and five other women's teams from the RMAC. As of Wednesday, the men's polls featured Adams State at #4, Colorado Christian at #5, Western Colorado at #8, UCCS at #20, New Mexico Highlands at #26, and CSU Pueblo at #27. On the women's side, all six RMAC teams sit inside the top-10. Adams State is #2, Western Colorado is #5, UCCS is #7, CSU Pueblo is #8, and Colorado Christian is #9.
 
HALL CALL FOR ART SIEMERS
On Sept. 30, former Colorado School of Mines Head Cross Country and Head Track & Field Coach Art Siemers was inducted into the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame. Siemers, older brother of current Head Cross Country Coach Chris Siemers, turned Mines into a distance running powerhouse. He arrived at Mines in 2002 and added head track & field coach duties in 2005. The elder Siemers remained in that position until 2012 when he became the head cross country coach at NCAA Division I Colorado State. On the course, he coached 21 cross country all-Americans and led nine appearances to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. Read his full profile HERE.
 
MAKE IT TWO
Art Siemers was not the only cross country-affiliated Oredigger making history last Saturday. Joining him on Sept. 30 inside Lockridge Arena was the 2015 men's cross country team. The 2015 squad was inducted into the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame after bringing Mines its first-ever national championship. The Orediggers captured the 2015 NCAA Division II championship, defeating RMAC rival Adams State to lift the first walnut and bronze trophy in school in history. Under national coach of the year Chris Siemers, Mines scored 100 team points to edge the Grizzlies by 27. Get the full rundown on the historic team HERE.
 
FUEHNE NAMED TOP STUDENT-ATHLETE
Last month, Mines cross country and track & field star Duncan Fuehne was named the 2022-23 national Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Division 2 Conference Commissioner's Association (D2 CCA). He earned the honor as the top student-athlete in the nation thanks to cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.98 as a graduate student in Mines' applied physics program. He also earned a bachelor's degree from Mines in engineering physics. In competition, Fuehne totaled four USTFCCCA All-American finishes overall. His top performance was #3 in the nation at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships where the Orediggers literally ran away with the team title. Fuehne was also named the D2 CCA South Central Region Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Read the full article on his award HERE.
 
BAKER COLLECTS D2 CCA HONORS
Even though Zoe Baker has run out of eligibility to compete in collegiate cross country, she is still racking up awards as one of the most decorated student-athletes in Mines history. Last month, she was named the 2022-23 South Central Region Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Division 2 Conference Commissioner's Association (D2 CCA). It added to a 2022-23 resume that included, but was not limited to, her second straight Academic All-American of the Year award, NCAA Woman of the Year Award finalist, multiple all-American finishes, and RMAC Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Baker boasts two Mines undergraduate degrees in computer science and computational and applied mathematics. The Longmont, Colo., native is currently in graduate school working on a master's in computer science. At last calculation, her cumulative GPA is 4.0.
 
BACK TO WASHINGTON PARK
Mines cross country will be back at Washington Park later this season to compete at the 2023 RMAC Cross Country Championships. Last year, MSU Denver hosted the 2022 NCAA South Central Region Championships at Washington Park where Mines' men won the title and the women claimed silver. This year, the postseason begins just south of downtown Denver on Saturday, Oct. 21.
 
THE BOSS
No, we're not talking about Bruce Springsteen, but the man we are talking about might be equally legendary in the world of cross country. Colorado School of Mines Cross Country Head Coach Chris Siemers is entering his 12th season at the helm for the Oredigger men and women. Headlining his resume are three NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships which Mines' men brought home in 2015, 2019, and 2022. On the men's side, 25 individuals have earned 42 Cross Country All-America honor. That has led to six RMAC crowns (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) and five NCAA South Central Regional titles (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). No men's team coached by Siemers has ever finished lower than fifth in the nation. On the women's side, eight individuals have posted 11 Cross Country All-America finishes. As a team, the women earned their first national podium finish in 2019 by finishing third at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. They added a second in 2021 by taking fourth place. In 2022, the women matched their best finish in program history with a third-place finish for their third straight podium Mines' women have finished as high as #2 at both the RMAC and regional championships on multiple occasions including 2022.
 
MORE SIEMERS
One section just wasn't enough for Mines' fearless leader. Thanks to the team accomplishments listed above, Coach Siemers boasts the following awards on his resume. He is a three-time USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country National Coach of the Year, a CaptainU Division II Men's Cross Country College Coach of the Year, five-time USTFCCCA South Central Region Men's Coach of the Year and six-time RMAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. In the classroom, Siemers' squads have had 21 Orediggers rack up 43 CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America honors along with two Academic All-America of the Year awards. They have also brought home two Brechler Awards honoring the RMAC's highest team GPA. Finally, and arguably most importantly, Siemers was inducted into the Mines Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 30 as part of the men's 2015 national championship team.
 
SCHEDULE SNAPSHOT
Races remaining on the Orediggers' 2023 schedule are growing thin. After this weekend's trip to Illinois, Mines has just three races remaining in the season. The postseason begins on Oct. 21 with the 2023 RMAC Cross Country Championships at Washington Park in Denver, Colo. The NCAA South Central Region Championships are slated for Saturday, Nov. 4, in Lubbock, Texas. Finally, the Orediggers will chase more history at the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 18, in Joplin, Mo.
 
WORLD CHAMPION ON STAFF
In the June of 2022, Oredigger assistant coach, Colorado School of Mines graduate and Mines Athletics Hall of Fame member Dr. Mark Husted earned the title World Champion. He competed in three different events at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Finland where he took gold in the 5,000-meter run, silver in the 1,500-meter run and fourth in the world in the 800-meter run. While a student-athlete at Mines, Dr. Husted was a six-time USTFCCCA All-American and two-time NCAA Division II National Champion.
 
LEGENDARY COACHING STAFF
The Colorado School of Mines cross country coaching staff is chalk full of decorated alumni. While the aforementioned Dr. Husted has worked with the team since 2011, both Grant Colligan and Chloe Colligan (nee Cook) joined the staff in 2022. Grant Colligan competed in cross country and track & field at Mines from 2014-2020 and earned 10 USTFCCCA All-America awards while helping the Oredigger men win the first national championship in the history of Mines Athletics in 2015. He will be part of the Hall of Fame induction on Sept. 30. Chloe Colligan, who competed at Mines as Chloe Cook from 2014-19 was a three-time USTFCCCA All-American including two honors in the mile. She was the #1 runner for Mines' women in 2019 when they took third in the nation, marking the first podium finish in program history. New additions for 2023 include volunteer assistants Steven Goldy and Max Sevcik. Goldy was a four-time USTFCCCA All-American between cross country and track & field and a member of the 2022 national championship team. Sevcik was a member of the 2019 men's cross country team and the 2022 squad, both which won national titles. He was also a USTFCCCA All-Region and First-Team All-RMAC runner for the cross country team. Goldy and Sevcik are both pursuing doctoral degrees from Mines.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Mines' next action will be the 2023 RMAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 21, at Washington Park in Denver. A full preview and applicable live coverage information will be offered at www.minesathletics.com the week leading up to the races.
 
Fans can keep up with Mines cross country 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.