Results
 
DENVER, Colo. – Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge was the star of the show for the Orediggers on Saturday as the Colorado School of Mines Men's and Women's Cross Country teams dominated their first races of 2024 at the Roadrunners Invitational in Washington Park.
 
Ramsey-Rutledge quite literally ran away with the individual title in the women's 6K race, breaking the course record with a time of 20:59.0 to win by more than 28 seconds. Her performance fueled a team title for the women who totaled 26 points and knocked off Colorado, the #27-ranked team in NCAA Division I, along with five other nationally-ranked, DII programs. The Buffs put up 32 points and UCCS rounded out the top-three with 80 points. All five scoring Orediggers finished #12 or better. Lexi Herr (21:33.8) was #4, Grace Strongman (21:35.2) was #5, Margaux Basart (21:47.7) checked in at #7, and Imani Fernandez-Gorbea (22:08.8) was #12. Emily Lamena and Ashleigh Loe rounded out Mines' top seven at #17 and #23, respectively. Josie Mejia, Gabriela Kenly, Avary Catchings, Maria Forster, and Emma Nelson also competed for the Mines women.
 
The Oredigger men won their team crown in the 8K race thanks to elite team running. Paul Knight was the top collegiate finisher in the race, taking third overall in 24:27.0. He trailed just two professional runners in Emad Bashir-Mohammed and Yasin Sado. The team score for Mines was 20 points. Fort Lewis finished second with 97 points and MSU Denver was third with 106 points in a field featuring eight nationally-ranked programs. The team aspect was on display with Orediggers accounting for five of the top-10 finishers and eight in the top-17. Max Bonenberger (24:29.8) finished #4, Jeremiah Vaille (24:34.3) was #6, Ethan Grolnic (24:41.1) was #8, Chandler Wilburn (24:48.0) checked in at #10, Matthew Mettler (24:56.7) finished #11, Braden Struhs (25:15.4) was #14, and Andreas O'Malley (25:23.5) was #17. Jeremy Gillett, Alex Shaw, Rowan Nicholas, and Shalom Trowbridge also raced for the Orediggers.
 
Saturday's races produced plenty of other notables for the Mines men and women. Ramsey-Rutledge's individual title marked her second at the Roadrunners Invitational after she won individual gold in 2022. Appearances from Wilburn, O'Malley, Gillett, Nicholas, Trowbridge, LaMena, Catchings, and Forster marked their first collegiate cross country races in an Oredigger uniform. The top seven runners for the Mines women (the normal number of entries for a collegiate cross country race) finished within three minutes of each other, and runners 2-7 were less than 90 second apart. The spread for the top seven Oredigger men was less than 50 seconds. Mines' men entered the day tied for #2 in the nation and the women were ranked #12 in the nation. Overall, the men's race featured over 180 runners and the women's race approached 150 entries.
 
The next action for the Orediggers will be the Ted Castaneda Classic hosted by Colorado College in Colorado Springs on Saturday, Oct. 5. A full preview and any live coverage information will be released the week of the race 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.