Results
 
COLORADO SPRINGS – Saturday's Ted Castaneda Classic at Monument Valley Park North marked the second race of the 2024 season for Colorado School of Mines Cross Country, and the men claimed team gold with the women running to team bronze.
 
The men's team title was led by a ninth-place finish from Alex Shaw who paced the 8,000-meter course at 26:08.4. That performance anchored a total score of 34 which bested second-place and host squad Colorado College by nine points. Mines' women were third as a team behind Callen Nash's seventh-place finish. She ran the 6K course in 22:40.0 and helped the Orediggers post an overall score of 70 points. They were just one point back of second-place UCCS. The hosts and #1 team in NCAA Division III, Colorado College, tallied a perfect 15 as the Tigers' top five runners crossed 1-2-3-4-5. Mines did outpace NCAA Division I Air Force which placed fourth as a team.
 
In the first race of the day, the women's 6K, there wasn't much to be done to offset CC's dominant performance. However, Mines ran well as a team with a spread just over 71 seconds among its top five runners who all finished in the top-25. After Nash crossed the finish line, Josie Mejia (23:04.7) grabbed 14th, Avary Catchings (23:28.9) was 18th, Gabriela Kenly (23:47.3) finished 21st, and Maria Forster (23:51.7) rounded out the scoring in 24th. Emma Nelson and Nicole Perez were the Orediggers' sixth and seventh runners. It marked Nash's 2024 debut and Perez's first collegiate race in a Mines uniform.
 
The men's gun sounded for the 8K race exactly 45 minutes after the women's event. What followed was clinical team running by the Orediggers. While Shaw was Mines' top finisher, it was Jeremy Gillett, Rowan Nicholas, Andreas O'Malley, and Shalom Trowbridge who solidified the team title. With Shaw ninth, Gillett (26:18.8) and Nicholas (26:21.0) were right behind in 10th and 11th. O'Malley (26:26.9) quickly crossed in 14th place. Then, Trowbridge (26:52.8) and Garrett Mackey (26:53.1) put all six Oredigger men inside the top-25, finishing 22nd and 23rd, respectively. It was Mackey's collegiate debut. Sam Walls was originally entered in the race, but was scratched before the first gun and did not start.
 
Both the men's and women's results were quality ones for the Orediggers in a field riddled with nationally-ranked programs. The men's crown came over #14 Fort Hays Tech Northwest (NJCAA) and #27 Fort Lewis (DII). Air Force, the #28-ranked team in NCAA Division I, and #24 Trinidad State (NJCAA) did not finish enough runners to tally a team score. The women's side saw the aforementioned #1 team in NCAA Division III, #9 UCCS (DII) and DI Air Force put up team scores. The remaining schools represented entered less than five runners.
 
Next weekend, Mines is slated to send a group to the non-team-scoring UCCS XC Open on Friday with a full allotment of Orediggers headed to the Lewis Crossover Invitational in Romeoville, Ill., on Saturday. A full preview and any live coverage information will be released Thursday at www.minesathletics.com.
 
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.