By: Sam Boender
IT'S THE POSTSEASON
The 2024 regular season is in the books for the Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams. This weekend, the Orediggers open the postseason at the 2024 RMAC Cross Country Championships hosted by New Mexico Highlands and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) in Las Vegas, N.M. The men's 8K race opens the day at 10:45 a.m. The women's 6K race ends the day with an 11:35 a.m. gun. Postseason racing means superlative awards, all-conference hardware, and team titles are all on the line. Mines' men are chasing a sixth straight RMAC crown, and the Oredigger women are racing for their first title in program history. It should be a good time.
LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday's races will feature live results through a variety of links which are also available above. Individual live results for both the men's and women's races should be available
HERE. There will be separate links for
live men's team standings and
live women's team standings. Unfortunately there is no live video. There is free admission for fans who plan to attend in person.
WEATHER REPORT
The forecast for Saturday in Las Vegas, N.M., calls for dry conditions and mostly clear to fully clear skies with the temperature starting in the 50s and rising to a high of 72. The wind looks to range from a single-digit breeze to light, double-digit guests. This provides very pleasant conditions for fans and borderline conditions for the competitors as the temperatures rise. Sunscreen and layers would be the move for spectators. Leave the umbrellas at home.
COURSE PREVIEW
Despite Las Vegas' listed elevation of 6,441 feet, the Gene Torres Golf Course will provide a relatively flat tract for Saturday's championship racing. The starting elevation is listed at 6,439 feet with a max elevation of 6,467 feet, marking just a 28-foot elevation change overall. Both races start on the fourth fairway of the golf course and runners immediate hit a slight uphill over the first 250 meters. The rest of the course features, dirt, native grass, crushed gravel, and cart paths. The finish line is located on the first fairway. Overall, the men will run three loops of 2,213 meters with a 1,360-meter finish. The women will traverse two loops of 2,320 meters with the same finishing distance.
BEST IN THE NATION
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) is widely considered the best cross country league in NCAA Division II, and one of the best across all of college athletics. When the conference's 15 programs converge on Saturday, there will be six nationally-ranked men's teams and eight nationally-ranked women's teams competing against each other. The ranked men's programs include #2 Mines, #5 Western Colorado, #6 Adams State, #11 Colorado Christian, #12 CSU Pueblo, and #22 UCCS. Ranked women's programs in the field include #1 Adams State, #3 CSU Pueblo, #4 Mines, #7 Western Colorado, #11 UCCS, #18 Colorado Christian, #23 Fort Lewis, and #28 Colorado Mesa. If the list was tough to track, that's five total programs in their respective top-five and seven inside the top-10. Whether these nationally-ranked squads run their "A" team is up the coaches, but on paper it's loaded like ballpark nachos.
OREDIGGER LINEUP
Conference rules allow each team to have up to nine runners compete in each championship race. Seven is standard and at least five individuals need to finish to get in on the team scoring. Either way, Mines' lineup is as follows.
Logan Bocovich,
Max Bonenberger,
Paul Knight,
Matt Mettler,
Andreas O'Malley,
Loic Scomparin,
Alex Shaw,
Braden Struhs, and
Chandler Wilburn will represent the Oredigger men.
Karina Andersen,
Avary Catchings,
Imani Fernandez-Gorbea,
Maria Forster,
Gabriela Kenly,
Ashleigh Loe,
Josie Mejia, and
Callen Nash will run for Mines' women. It marks the season debuts for Bocovich and Scomparin. Additionally, it will be the first collegiate cross country postseason appearance for Mettler, O'Malley, Wilburn, Andersen, Catchings, Fernandez-Gorbea, Forster, and Kenly.
THE SCORING
As mentioned above, each RMAC team is allowed up to nine runners which means up to 135 men and 135 women could be racing on Saturday. Standard college cross country scoring will be used. That means each team's top-five runners will collect the number of points equal to their individual placement while the sixth and seventh runners don't score, but can change the scoring of another team's runner. For example, if the Orediggers finished 10-17, the top five would produce a team score of 60 points while the sixth and seventh runners would push runners behind them down two spots. The eighth and ninth finishers do not factor into the scoring, but there is no pre-designation as to who is 1-9.
HARDWARE ON THE LINE
The postseason means legitimate hardware is on the line. To start, the men's and women's teams with the lowest total score (as described above) are named RMAC Champions. Next are the RMAC Runner of the Year awards. Those are given to the men's individual champion and the women's individual champion. RMAC Freshman of the Year is granted to the highest-finishing freshman or redshirt freshman on either side. RMAC Coach of the Year is voted on after the meet. There is also the RMAC Summit Award given to the competitor with the highest cumulative grade-point average (undergraduate only) who is competing at the championship site along with other criteria involved. Finally, All-RMAC honors are given to the top-28 finishers in each race. First-Team All-RMAC goes to those finishing 1-14 overall. Second-Team All-RMAC is awarded to overall finishers 15-28. Individuals do not have to be in the top seven on their team to earn All-RMAC.
FIVE-TIME DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
Mines' men have won five straight RMAC Championships and seven of the last eight dating back to 2016. The Orediggers' latest league crown was 2023 when
Duncan Fuehne,
Loic Scomparin,
Paul Knight,
Logan Bocovich, and
John O'Malley finished 3-4-5-9-11. That provided Mines a team score of 32 compared to Adams State's 59 points in second place. Additionally,
Max Bonenberger and
Braden Struhs finished 16th and 22nd to make seven All-RMAC Orediggers. The 2016 title was the first RMAC team title in program history. Additionally, Mines boasts four of the last five RMAC Runners of the Year (individual champions), and six of the last nine. Dan Mahoney raced to gold in 2015,
Grant Colligan crossed first in 2017, Dylan Ko went back-to-back in 2019 and 2020, and Dillon Powell went back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. Mahoney was the Orediggers' first men's RMAC Runner of the Year.
CHASING HISTORY
The Oredigger women's cross country team has finished runner-up at the RMAC Championships six of the last seven years including five consecutive team silvers from 2019-23. However, Mines' women are still chasing their first RMAC title in program history and getting closer each season. In 2017 and 2019, the Orediggers finished #2 to Adams State by 39 points each year. Then, in 2020, Mines nearly made history as Zoe Baker became the first Oredigger woman to ever race to an individual RMAC cross country title. However, it was not meant to be as Western Colorado edged Mines by 19 points for the team title. In 2021, the Orediggers closed their gap on Adams State with a 31-point margin. The 2022 edition was all Adams State which posted a score of 17 as the Grizzlies' scoring runners finished 1-2-3-4-7. Last year, ASU scored 32 compared to Mines' 56.
Holly Moser,
Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge, and
Grace Strongman were all top-10.
LEWIS CROSSOVER RECAP
Mines closed the 2024 regular season at the Lewis XC Crossover in Romeoville, Ill. The Oredigger men and women swept the team titles and
Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge won individual gold in the women's race. She was 11 seconds faster than Kendall Kramer of Alaska.
Ethan Grolnic anchored the men's squad, finishing third overall. He was less than six seconds out of second. Mines' women totaled 69 points. The Oredigger men collected 62 points. Both scores were good enough for double-digit margins of victory in fields featuring numerous nationally-ranked teams.
NATIONAL ATHLETE OF THE WEEK – AGAIN
Individual gold for
Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge at the Lewis XC Crossover afforded the redshirt senior her second USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award of the season. She outran the 2023 NCAA Division II West Region Champion and helped Mines win the team title. Ramsey-Rutledge collected RMAC Runner of the Week as well.
THE BOSS
Still not Bruce Springsteen, but still potentially equally legendary. Colorado School of Mines Cross Country Head Coach
Chris Siemers is in his 13th 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. Siemers' men's teams have had 35 individuals earn 63 cross country all-America honors. That has led to seven RMAC crowns (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) and six NCAA South Central Regional titles (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). No men's team coached by Siemers has ever finished lower than fifth in the nation. On the women's side, 10 individuals have posted 15 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. The last two seasons have seen the women match their best finish in program history at the national race, taking third and extending their podium run to four straight. Mines' women have finished as high as #2 at both the RMAC and regional championships on multiple occasions including 2023.
MORE SIEMERS
One section just wasn't enough for a Mines legend. 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, six-time USTFCCCA South Central Region Men's Coach of the Year and seven-time RMAC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. In the classroom, Siemers' squads have had 23 Orediggers rack up 49 CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America honors along with three 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, 2023, as part of the men's 2015 national championship team.
HUSTED STRIKES GOLD – AGAIN
Oredigger assistant coach, Colorado School of Mines graduate, and Mines Athletics Hall of Fame member
Dr. Mark Husted has won multiple world titles after a successful summer at the World Masters Athletics Championships. He took gold in the 5,000-meter run which added to his 5K crown won in 2022. While a student-athlete at Mines, Dr. Husted was a six-time USTFCCCA All-American and two-time NCAA Division II National Champion.
LEGENDS ON 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, and
Dr. Chloe Gustafson came on board over the summer of 2024.
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 was part of the Hall of Fame induction in 2023.
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. Gustafson ran for Mines from 2011-15. She was a two-time USTFCCCA All-American for the Orediggers including a seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter run at the 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, and a 13th-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. Also on staff are 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
After the conference race, Mines takes a weekend off from competition before running at the NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships hosted by MSU Denver at Washington Park on Saturday, Nov. 9. A full preview and live coverage information will be available at
www.minesathletics.com the week leading up to the race.
Fans can keep up with Mines cross country on "X" (formerly Twitter) and Instagram at @csmtrack. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, "X" and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics.
