Results

GOLDEN, Colo. - Hannah Miller and Hunter Potrykus reset conference records in the pole vault and the women's 10,000m highlighted a successful day on the track for Colorado School of Mines as it hosted the Kit Mayer Classic on Friday.

On a frigid and occasionally snowy day, Mines still had productive performances from all directions led by its pole vaulters, as Miller went 4.30m and Potrykus 5.41m to break and tie, respectively, the RMAC all-venues records. Meanwhile, Zoe Baker snapped her own track record in the 10K to lead a likely five Mines national qualifiers in the race.

Baker ran 35:40.08 to shatter her 2021 track record in the event by more than 25 seconds, recording the NCAA #7 performance of the season while Jenna Ramsey-Rutlege was also under track-record pace to finish in 35:53.90, the #8 national mark. Grace Strongman ran a nearly one-minute PR of 36:06.79 for the national #12 spot, Molly Maksin timed 36:13.28 for the #14 slot, and Holly Moser 36:14.04 for #15. The race was paced by former Oredigger all-American Chloe Gustafson. 

The weather pushed pole vault and high jump into Steinhauer Fieldhouse, and the Orediggers took full advantage with some outstanding performances. Potrykus set his collegiate best of 5.41m - the national #2 performance - without a miss, tying Western Colorado's Noah Zorsky for the RMAC record, while Aidan Bennett matched his career best with an NCAA-provisional 4.96m clearance. Noah Kelly and Kai Miller both cleared 4.81m (marking Miller's outdoor season PR), and Shane Conley got over 4.66m.

In the women's competition, Miller cruised through 4.17m without a miss before moving the bar up to 4.30m, making it on her second attempt to break not only her Mines outdoor record (4.20m), but her Mines and RMAC all-venues record of 4.27m set at this year's conference indoor championships. It wasn't the only big performance from the women's vaulters as Avery Herbold cleared a season-best 4.02m and Ava Kowalski made a personal-best and NCAA-provisional 3.97m; those marks move Miller to #2, Herbold to #8, and Kowalski to #11 on the NCAA D-II performance list, with teammate Dale Thompson, who cleared 3.82m on Friday, already tied for 12th nationally. Madeline Obuchowski placed 12th at 3.37m.

On the track, in their first qualifying opportunity of the season, Alberto Campa and Brock Drengenberg ran NCAA-provisional 1,500m times as Campa placed second in 3:52.93 and Drengenberg third in 3:53.24. Those slot in as the #11 and #15 times in D-II this season, respectively. Matt Mettler was fourth in 3:55.69 and Daniel Appleford finished eighth in 3:59.68. Riley McGrath was the runner-up and top D-II runner in the women's 1,500m in an NCAA-provisional 4:38.16.

Tim Thompson ran 1:51.33, which converts to a season-best 1:50.50, to win the men's 800m run, which places him 20th nationally. Imani Fernandez-Gorbea was third in the women's race in 2:13.58, and Avary Catchings was fifth at 2:16.36. Four Oredigger women finished the 5,000m led by Josie Mejia, the runner-up in 18:06.16, with Ashleigh Loe fourth (18:27.66), Callen Nash fifth (18:32.78), and Ella Kenly seventh (19:21.38). 

It was not ideal conditions for the sprinters, but they made the most of the racing opportunity as Garrett Halbrooks ran 11.33 in a light snow for ninth in the 100m, Coulton Chan ran 15.22 for sixth in the 110m hurdles, and Elijah Quinby recorded 55.65 for fifth in the 400m hurdles. In the women's 400m, Grace Galvin ran 57.87 for third and Randi Higashi 59.77 for eighth.

Kitt Rupar had a pair of personal bests in the circle, throwing 46.19m to win the discus and 52.69m for second in the hammer, both NCAA provisional marks. She finished the day winning the shot put in the snow at 13.90m. Rupar ranks #13 nationally in the shot, #22 in the discus, and #27 in the hammer. Hayden Swim led Mines' men in the shot put with a 14.62m mark for second, with Cade Whish's PR of 13.67m good for fifth and Franklin Rambo's 13.46m sixth.  Rambo hit a personal-best 42.85m in the discus for fourth and Whish marked 40.06m for sixth with Davin Kiesby 10th at 36.25m and Swim 11th at 34.85m. In the hammer, Kiesby led with a 53.86m performance for fourth, and Brody Welch threw 49.67m for sixth.

Grant Redmond cleared 2.07m without a miss to win the men's high jump, while Lexye Wood led four Oredigger women with a second-place 1.62m. Avery Wright was fifth at 1.52m and Lisa Sutherland and Claire Kintzley were sixth and seventh at the same height. Nicholas Nijkamp had a best of 13.55m for second in the triple jump, and Prince Owusu-Ansah marked 6.06m as the long jump runner-up.

The Orediggers are back in action next weekend at the RMAC Outdoor Championships in Grand Junction.