RESULTS
 
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams had a dominant Saturday morning as they swept the team titles at the Lewis Crossover Invitational by double-digit margins.
 
The #3-ranked Oredigger women started the day by totaling 49 total points in the 6,000-meter race. That was good enough to take down runner-up and #1-ranked Grand Valley State by a margin of 49 points. Holly Moser was tops for the team with a seventh-place finish in 21:26.0. Mines' men followed up with a team score of 34 in the 8,000-meter race which gave them a 43-point spread on second-place and #5-ranked Colorado Christian. Duncan Fuehne separated himself as the Orediggers' lead runner, taking second overall in 23:49.7, just three seconds off the individual winner from CCU.
 
Saturday's women's field was composed of 314 individual competitors. The team victory for Mines' women was highlighted by a spread of 26.8 seconds between the Orediggers' top runner and their seventh runner. It was Margaux Basart right behind Moser at #9 thanks to a 21:32.2 pace. Clare Peters (21:32.3) and Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge were #10 and #11, respectively. Grace Strongman rounded out Mines' scoring runners in 12th, crossing the finish line in 21:35.4. Lexi Herr (21:42.6) and Riley McGrath (21:52.8) were the bumpers for the Orediggers as Herr placed #19 and McGrath was #26. Molly Maksin, Ashleigh Loe, Josie Mejia, Callen Nash, and Imani Fernandez-Gorbea also competed and crossed the finish line for Mines' women.
 
The men's race included 337 runners, and all seven Orediggers finished top-20. After Fuehne's silver medal, it was Andrew Kaye in sixth, Logan Bocovich in seventh, John O'Malley in eighth, and JP Rutledge taking eleventh to round out the scoring. Alberto Campa (24:22.6) and Daniel Appleford (24:29.0) weren't far behind. They finished #13 and #18, respectively. The finishing spread between Kaye (24:02.0), Bocovich (24:02.8), and O'Malley (24:05.2) was 3.2 seconds. Overall, Mines' scorers posted a total spread of 26.7 seconds. The full team spread from Fuehne to Appleford was 39.7 seconds even with Appleford taking a spill in the last 2,000 meters.
 
Both races were chalk full of nationally-ranked programs. As previously mentioned, top-ranked Grand Valley State's women were in attendance, but did not race their entire starting lineup. Also in the women's race were #4 Winona State, #9 Colorado Christian, #13 Biola, #16 Lewis, #23 Wayne State, #26 Saginaw Valley State, #27 Western Washington, and #29 Walsh which gave the 33-team field nine nationally-ranked programs. The men's field included 31 programs and eight of them were nationally ranked. Joining #1 Mines and #5 CCU were #10 Saginaw Valley State, #11 Western Washington, #15 Wayne State, #18 Walsh, #22 Lewis, and #30 Alaska Anchorage.
 
Up next for the Orediggers are the 2023 RMAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 21 at Washington Park in Denver, Colo. A full preview of the event 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.