Day 2 Results

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Colorado School of Mines crowned three more champions and holds the men's and women's team leads after the second day of the 2024 RMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Colorado Mesa.

Mines swept the podiums in both pole vault events led by winners Hunter Potrykus and Avery Herbold, and Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge captured the 10,000m gold to highlight Saturday's individual performances. The men hold the team lead with 83.5 points over Colorado Mesa (69.5) and UCCS (61), while the women top the standings at 91.5 points ahead of CMU (55.5) and UCCS (40).

Saturday's competition was impacted again by cold and wet weather, with a late afternoon downpour halting competition in the women's pole vault; the women's 10K, which started the day, had been rescheduled from Friday night after it was stopped six laps in due to lightning. Mines had nine medalists overall on Saturday. 

Ramsey-Rutledge and Zoe Baker went 1-2 in that 10K, two of five Orediggers in the top six places as Holly Moser was fourth, Molly Maksin fifth, and Grace Strongman sixth to provide 30 team points. Ramsey-Rutledge and Baker ran much of the race in a front pack with Fort Lewis' bronze medalist Hannah Hartwell, pulling away with two laps to go and then racing each other to the line as Ramsey-Rutledge won in a meet-record 35:39.71 and Baker crossed with her in 35:39.75. Moser, along with Baker, also ran under meet-record pace to finish in 35:57.20, while Maksin finished in 36:00.81 and Strongman 36:12.96.

The Mines vaulters were utterly dominant once again in sweeping both podiums, with both the men and women taking the top four places and scoring five; the men scored 31.5 and the women 31 team points. The men's competition in the morning was won by Potrykus, who came in at 4.71m, passed up to clear a winning 5.06m, and then attempted a would-be meet record 5.31m before bowing out. Aidan Bennett, Noah Kelly, and Kai Miller all shared the silver medal with a best height of 4.71m and only one prior miss; all three passed up to 5.06m with Potrykus and left at that bar. Shane Conley scored with a sixth-place 4.41m, and Jackson Wray finished 10th at 4.26m. 

The women's competition was halted by rain with both Avery Herbold and Hannah Miller still alive having cleared 3.68m; Herbold was declared the winner with no misses. Dale Thompson and Ava Kowalski had each gotten over 3.53m in the same fashion to share the bronze, while Madeline Obuchowski scored with a seventh-place 3.23m. The Orediggers showed resilience in tough conditions as eight other competitors no-heighted and three vaulters retired before the stoppage due to the conditions. 

Lexye Wood was the silver medalist in the long jump, improving a spot on her final jump to place second at 5.70m, contributing eight team points. 

The only other track finals on Saturday were the steeplechases, and Margaux Basart and Alex Shaw placed for the women and men, respectively. Basart ran 10:49.81 - just two seconds off her sea-level PR - in a very quick final to place fourth and score five team points. Meanwhile Shaw crossed in 9:16.81 for fifth in the men's race, scoring four points. 

In track prelims, the Mines men sent three through to the 110m hurdle finals as Everett Delate and Coulton Chan topped the qualifiers in times of 14.26 and 14.78, respectively, the latter representing Chan's collegiate best. Rhett Cullers will join them in the final after running 15.03 to qualify fifth. Aryelle Wright ran 2:10.58 to qualify third for the women's 800m final, with Imani Fernandez-Gorbea 10th in 2:12.06 and Avary Catchings 12th in 2:13.82. The men's final will include Tim Thompson, who cruised to the second-best preliminary time of 1:53.39. In the women's 100m hurdles, Avery Wright finished 10th in 15.23 with Lisa Sutherland 14th (15.37), Aani Hardesty 15th (15.38), and Andrea Walser 20th (16.83). 

Avery Wright leads the heptathlon through four events with 2,900 points, 78 points ahead of UCCS' Faith Novess, with Lisa Sutherland eighth at 2,589 points. Wright ran a 15.12 100m hurdles to start, cleared 1.43m in the high jump, and then marked 12.14m in the shot put for third place; a field-best 25.29 200m time, however, launched her into the overnight lead. Sutherland ran 15.00 flat in the hurdles, cleared 1.49m in the high jump, threw 9.68m in the shot, and ran 28.04 in the 200m.

In the day's only throwing event, Franklin Rambo finished 10th in the men's javelin with a best throw of 53.90m, and Kolby Denke was 12th at 52.47m. 

Sunday's final day of competition starts with the conclusion of the heptathlon at 10:30 a.m.