2025 RMAC Cross Country Championships – Saturday, Oct. 25 – (W) 9:30 a.m. – (M) 10:15 a.m. [Live Results] [RMAC Network] [Championship Central]
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Monument Valley Park North

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THE POSTSEASON BEGINS
The postseason has arrived for the top-ranked Colorado School of Mines men's and women's cross country teams. The nation's #1-ranked men and #1-ranked women are headed to Colorado Springs and Monument Valley Park North on Saturday for the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships. An open race hosted by UCCS starts the day at 8 a.m., the gun sounds for the women's 6K at 9:30 a.m., and the men's 8K is the finale starting at 10:15 a.m. Postseason racing means superlative awards, all-conference hardware, and team titles are all on the line. Mines' men are chasing a seventh straight RMAC crown, and the Oredigger women are racing for their first title in program history. It should be a good time.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Fans can watch Saturday's races live with a subscription to the RMAC Network. The cross country championships are already included in monthly and annual subscriptions. There is also a one-time day pass available for $10. Live results will also be available thanks to Heartland Timing and MileSplit.
 
RMAC NETWORK CHANGES
This fall, the RMAC Network moved to a pay-per-view model for all events. Fans can purchase monthly and annual subscriptions that will provide them access to all regular-season, championship, and archived broadcasts on the RMAC Network. A monthly subscription costs $25, and an annual subscription costs $130. Single-game passes are available for $10, which grants access to a single game or event for 24 hours. For technical support questions, fans can contact Hudl Support or email the RMAC directly (rmac@rmacsports.org). For further support, fans can visit the RMAC Network Help page.
 
DIRECTIONS AND PARKING
Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs, Colo., has two main sections. Don't let the navigation system fool you. To get to Monument Valley Park North, put in 205 W Fontanero Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80907. Street parking is available for free next to the park along Culbera Avenue. However, it is limited so those arriving late may have to park a couple blocks away and walk to the course.
 
WEATHER REPORT
Saturday morning promises near perfect conditions for cross country racing in Colorado Springs. Sunny skies are forecasted with a high of 65 degrees and a low of 40 degrees. The conditions during the races should include temperatures in the 50s, a very light breeze and humidity below 40 percent. Fans should be aware of the cool temperatures and still wear sunscreen. It is Colorado after all.
 
COURSE PREVIEW
The race course for the 2025 RMAC Cross Country Championships is similar, if not identical, to past routes run at any race hosted by UCCS. In the 8,000 meters, the men will run the lower 2K loop followed by the upper 2K loop and repeat. The 6K tract features the lower 2K loop, the upper 2K loop and one more round of the lower loop. Crushed gravel and dirt make up 98 percent of the course's surface with grass and brief concrete crossings making up the other two percent. Fans can check out the course maps HERE.
 
ARE YOU READY FOR IT?
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) is the premier cross country conference in all of NCAA Division II and possibly all of college athletics, and sometimes people just aren't ready for it. The 2025 edition of the RMAC's cross country championships features six nationally-ranked men's teams and seven ranked women's squads. The list of men's teams from the conference in the national polls includes #1 Mines, #3 Adams State, #6 Colorado Christian, #10 Western Colorado, #13 UCCS, and #21 Fort Lewis. On the women's side, it's #1 Mines, #4 Adams State, #7 Western Colorado, #8 UCCS, #14 Colorado Mesa, #19 CSU Pueblo, and #26 Fort Lewis. Despite the prestige and depth of the conference on both sides, only two programs have won the women's title since 1981 (Adams State, Western Colorado), and only three men's programs have claimed the crown since 1979 (Adams State, Western Colorado, Mines).
 
OREDIGGER LINEUP - MEN
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. Daniel Appleford, Max Bonenberger, Ethan Grolnic, Paul Knight, Braden Struhs, Jeremiah Vaille, Charlie Welch, Chandler Wilburn, and Cody Wyman will represent Mines' men. Four of those nine raced at last year's national meet which the Orediggers won. In total, the Mines contingency touts a total of 13 all-America honors between cross country and track & field.
 
OREDIGGER LINEUP – WOMEN
As stated above, each team can enter up to nine runners. Five will score with two displacers and then two extra runners – all based on order of finish and not previous declaration. The Oredigger women's squad will feature Margaux Basart, Gabi Boeckman, Angela Friedman, Lexi Herr, Emily LaMena, Callen Nash, Katie Price, Grace Strongman, and Sierra Wall. Like the men, four of those running on Saturday also appeared at last year's DII championships. In total, the women's lineup touts a combined five all-America finishes across cross country and track & field.
 
HOW TO SCORE
With each RMAC team allowed up to nine runners. Saturday's championship field could include up to 135 men and 135 women. 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 serve as displacers. They 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 HUNTING
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.
 
GOING FOR SEVEN
Mines' men have won six straight RMAC Championships and eight of the last nine dating back to 2016. The Orediggers' latest league crown was 2024. Loic Scomparin, Paul Knight, and Logan Bocovich anchored the title run by finishing 2-3-4, respectively. Matt Mettler and Max Bonenberger rounded out Mines' scoring five by finishing sixth and ninth. Top-25 performances by Andreas O'Malley and Braden Struhs capped a 24-point total for the Orediggers which was more than enough to keep Adams State (45) from the top of the podium. The 2016 title was the first RMAC team title in program history.  Additionally, Mines put together a run of six RMAC Runners of the Year (individual champions) from 2015-22. 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. Powell was the last individual Oredigger to claim gold.
 
ON THE PRECIPICE
The Oredigger women have finished runner-up at the RMAC race six of the last eight years. That run includes five consecutive team silvers from 2019-23. In 2017 and 2019, the Orediggers finished #2 to Adams State by 39 points each year. Then, in 2020, at the very same Monument Valley Park North course, 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. In 2023, ASU scored 32 compared to Mines' 56. Last year, Mines put its youth and depth on display at the conference meet in preparation for a run at the national title. The Orediggers ended up sixth in the RMAC in 2024.
 
HISTORIC RANKINGS
Over the past month, the program has added to its illustrious history not once, but twice. First, the Oredigger women rose to #1 in the nation for the first time in program history. The following week, the men took over #1 in their poll as well. It marked the first time ever the Mines men and women have been simultaneously ranked #1.
 
TIGER OPEN TOUCHPOINTS
Mines last raced at the FHSU Tiger Open hosted by Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., on Saturday, Oct. 11. The Orediggers again chose to put their youth and depth on display and it turned into a flex. Mines swept the men's and women's team titles at the event. The men totaled 59 points to edge nationally-ranked Iowa Western CC. The Oredigger women ran a 5K and posted a score of 43 to beat Adams State for a second time this season. Cody Wyman and Gabi Boeckman both finished sixth in their respective races as Mines' top runners.
 
THE BOSS
Colorado School of Mines Cross Country Head Coach Chris Siemers is in his 14th season at the helm for the Oredigger men and women. Headlining his resume are four NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships which Mines' men brought home in 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2024. Siemers' men's teams have had 38 individuals earn 69 cross country all-America honors. That has led to eight RMAC crowns (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and seven NCAA South Central Regional titles (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). 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 16 Cross Country All-America finishes during Siemers' tenure. 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 podium in 2021 by taking fourth place. The 2022 and 2023 seasons saw the women match their best finish in program history at the national race, taking third making it four straight podiums Mines' women have finished as high as #2 at both the RMAC and regional championships on multiple occasions.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The next races for Mines will be the 2025 NCAA Division II South Central Region Championships on Nov. 8 at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo. A full preview and applicable live coverage information will be posted 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.