The 2023 Mines Athletics Auction and Hall of Fame will take place Sept. 30 at Lockridge Arena. Tickets are now on sale at minesathletics.com/auction, and check minesathletics.com all week long for the announcement of the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame Class of 2023!
 

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A coach who turned Colorado School of Mines into a distance running powerhouse, Art Siemers enters the Harry D. Campbell Oredigger Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2023.

Siemers arrived at Mines as the head cross country coach in 2002, and added head track & field coach duties in 2005, remaining in that position until 2012 when he became the head cross country coach at Colorado State. His time at Mines saw a rapid rise to national prominence in all three seasons; in the fall, he coached 21 cross country all-Americans and led nine appearances to the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships, including four top-five team finishes and a third-place showing in 2009. Prior to Siemers taking over the cross country program, the Orediggers had never qualified for the national championships, and the women made their first trip in 2003 and the men in 2005. 

On the track, he had 82 all-Americans as head coach and five national champions: Hannah Davey (2004 steeplechase), the men's distance medley relay (2009), Mack McLain (2010 1,500m and 2011 mile), and Mark Husted (2010 800m). The Orediggers recorded their best national team finishes ever under Siemers, with the women coming in 10th place at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships (a result that would not be bettered until this past winter), and the men finishing eighth at the 2008 outdoor meet and 11th indoors in 2011. Overall, the Oredigger track & field teams combined for 15 top-25 NCAA team finishes during his tenure, and he was voted the RMAC Indoor Coach of the Year in 2009. 

Siemers' impact on the programs continues to this day. After his departure for Colorado State, his brother Chris took over the reigns of Mines' distance program and the Orediggers captured their first-ever national title in men's cross country in 2015. The program has won two more titles since, and the women's team has achieved multiple podium finishes as well. 

Five of his distance runners and one team have preceded him into the Hall of Fame: Hannah Davey-Briggs (Class of 2010), Larry McDaris (Class of 2012), the 2005 women's cross country team (Class of 2013), Heather Beresford (Class of 2019), and Mark Husted and Mack McLain (Class of 2021). Both Beresford and Davey-Briggs are also members of the RMAC Hall of Fame.