2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships – Saturday, Nov. 22 – (W) 10 a.m. CT – (M) 11:15 a.m. CT [Live Results] [Watch] [Championship Central]
Kenosha, Wis. – Wayne E. Dannehl National XC Course

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HISTORY AWAITS
The season finale has arrived for the Colorado School of Mines men's and women's cross country teams, and history awaits the Orediggers Saturday at the 2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. Mines' men and women will race for NCAA glory at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course on the campus of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha. The Oredigger men enter the event as the defending national champions while the women look to cap the greatest season in program history. A title for Mines' men would make the first back-to-back national championships in program history. A crown for the women would be the first for any Oredigger women's team – ever. Of course, a Mines sweep at the national races would be beyond uncharted territory for the prolific Oredigger squads. A 10 a.m. CT gun starts the women's 6K with the men's 10K going off at 11:15 a.m. CT.
 
WATCH IT LIVE
There will be free video of Saturday's races offered at www.ncaa.com/live. Fans can also follow the live results for real-time splits and finishes.
 
WEATHER REPORT
Saturday looks to be borderline balmy relative to normal Wisconsin weather in late November. That being said, it will still be cool and plenty humid which will enhance the chill. The temperature for the start of the women's race projects right around 40 degrees under mostly-cloudy skies with 70-perecent humidity but minimal chance for precipitation and a negligible breeze. The men's race should see temperatures in the mid-40s with lower humidity, more of a light wind, and a low shot at any rain or snow. Fans planning to attend should plan to feel warm while moving around the course, but bring a heavier layer for standing still.
 
COURSE PREVIEW
According to the meet information and Wisconsin Parkside's official athletics website, the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course is located on a rolling, wooded 700-acre campus between Kenosha and Racine in southeastern, Wisconsin. Upon in-person inspection by the author, heavily-wooded rolling hills are confirmed. The plot of land has been set aside primarily for cross country running and skiing. The course terrain runs across multiple rolling hills with spots of flat straightaways. Grass or natural paths which never cross any pavement make up the course surface. Turns on the course are wide and sweeping. At least 1,000 meters separate the starting line from the choke point.
 
GUEST LIST
The list of attendees for Saturday's race includes 34 men's teams, 34 women's teams, with at least 24 individuals making two different fields featuring well over 250 runners each. Fourteen of the 68 teams are from the South Central Region, and 12 of those programs hail specifically from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. All 14 region teams at the big race are nationally ranked. For the men, it's #2 Adams State, #3 Mines, #6 Western Colorado, #8 Colorado Christian, and #10 West Texas A&M, and #14 UCCS. On the women's side, it's #2 Adams State, #3 Mines, #4 UCCS, #5 Western Colorado, #6 West Texas A&M, #17 CSU Pueblo, #20 Colorado Mesa, and #22 Fort Lewis. Additionally, Weldon Chebon (New Mexico Highlands), Ian Rono (Texas A&M-International), Brooke Latham (Oklahoma Christian), and Megan Williamson (Dallas Baptist) were selected as individuals from the region.
 
OREDIGGER ENTRIES
Teams can officially enter 10 individuals into each race, but only seven will compete on Saturday. Those initial entries were made public on the live results page. Teams declare their seven for Saturday during Friday's packet pick-up. Margaux Basart, Gabi Boeckman, Angela Friedman, Lexi Herr, Emily LaMena, Callen Nash, Katie Price, Grace Strongman, and Sierra Wall make nine entries for Mines' women. Daniel Appleford, Max Bonenberger, Ethan Grolnic, Dawson Gunn, Paul Knight, Jacob Schwarting, Braden Struhs, Jeremiah Vaille, Charlie Welch, and Cody Wyman give the Oredigger men 10 entries. Again, just seven men and seven women will toe the line Saturday morning in Wisconsin.
 
VETERAN LINEUP
No matter which seven men and which seven women run for Mines, the lineups will be chalk full of NCAA championship experience. Four Oredigger women and five men included in this year's entries also raced at the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships where the men finished first and the women were fourth. Furthermore, the women's entries include a total of five all-American finishes between cross country and track & field. The men's entries for Mines have combined for 14 all-American performances in cross country and track & field. On the flip side, the Orediggers have a total of three true freshmen entered along with two redshirt freshmen. Certainly a flex on the future of DII cross country with so much experience and youth across two different lineups.
 
CROSS COUNTRY SCORING
Standard college cross country scoring will be used on Saturday. 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. A perfect team score in college cross country is 15 points.
 
AWARDS & HARDWARE
The team with the lowest combined score from its top-five runners will be crowned NCAA National Champion on the men's and women's side. The individual man and woman that cross the finish line first will also earn the national champion moniker. Additionally, individual finishers 1-40 in each race will be granted USTFCCCA All-America distinction. All other superlative awards are voted on by the coaches after the race.
 
BACK IN WISCONSIN
Earlier this season, Mines competed on the very same course at the Lucian Rosa Invitational – also known as the national preview. The Orediggers found success with the men and women sweeping the team titles. Grace Strongman anchored the team score for Mines' women by finishing first in a field of more than 200 runners. Teammates Emily LaMena and Margaux Basart were right behind in second and third. Paul Knight was the top runner for the Oredigger men, finishing third overall as Mines edged out Adams State by seven points. It marked the Orediggers' first trip to Wisconsin in more than 15 years – possibly ever. Now, Mines will race in Wisconsin twice in the same season.
 
WHEN IT ALL STARTED
Mines' women first qualified as a team for the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in 2003. The Oredigger men made their first team appearance at the big race in 2005.
 
CONSISTENT QUALIFYING
Saturday will be the 20th consecutive appearance for the men of Mines at the DII championships. They have not missed a national meet since first qualifying in 2005. There was no national meet in the fall of 2020. The Oredigger women will make their 10th straight appearance at the national race and 14th overall.
 
TOP OREDIGGER TEAMS
The top team finish for the Colorado School of Mines Men's Cross Country team at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships is #1. The Orediggers first earned the title NCAA Division II Champion in 2015 at Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Mo. Mines' men hoisted the maple trophy again 2019 at Arcade Creek in Sacramento, Calif., and won a third national title in 2022 in Seattle. The Oredigger men made it four NCAA crowns last year with a narrow victory over defending champion Wingate back in Sacramento. Furthermore, Mines' men have never finished lower than #9 as a team, and have finished #5, or better, every year since 2009, and #3 or better every year since 2015. The top team finish for the Oredigger women is #3. They first made the podium in 2019 in Sacramento, Calif., before taking #4 in 2021 and then bronze again in 2022 and 2023. Mines' women also earned top-five finishes in 2005, 2018, and 2024. Overall, the Oredigger women have finished top-10 nine times.
 
BEST INDIVIDUALS
In 2022, Dillon Powell raced to individual gold at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. He was the first Oredigger to win an individual title in cross country in program history. Prior to his historic run, Kyle Moran and Dylan Ko had tied for the best national finish in program history with Moran finishing #4 in 2019 and Ko taking #4 in 2021. Last year, Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge set a new bar for Mines' women with her third-place finish. Before her, Chloe Colligan (née Cook), who is now an assistant coach for Mines, owned the top individual national finish for the women. She took #7 in 2019 as part of the Oredigger women's first podium appearance in Sacramento. She was also the top American runner in that year's race. Throughout the entire history of Mines cross country, 38 men and 14 women have combined for 79 all-America finishes.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Mines assured its men's and women's berths at the national championships with a pair of top-three finishes at the NCAA South Central Region Championships two weeks ago. The races, hosted at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo., saw the Oredigger men finish second while the women took third. A total of three women were all-region for Mines, led by Emily LaMena's fourth-place finish. Jeremiah Vaille's sixth-place finish led five all-region performers for the Oredigger men.
 
BREAKING THROUGH
The Colorado School of Mines women's cross country team made history last month ago at the 2025 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships as they won the program's first RMAC title. Grace Strongman anchored the historic effort with individual gold and RMAC Runner of the Year distinction. All five of the Oredigger scorers finished top-10 and fueled a team score of 28 which was 40 points better than runner-up UCCS. Strongman also shattered the course record and became just the second Oredigger women to ever win RMAC Runner of the Year after Zoe Baker broke through in 2020. Mines' title for the women made them just the third program since 1981 to win a RMAC crown.
 
HISTORIC RANKINGS
Leading into the RMAC Championships, Mines bolstered its illustrious history twice over. 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. After the conference race, the Oredigger men were dropped to #3 in the nation, but the women remain #1.
 
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 and making it four straight podiums. Mines' women, after numerous runner-up finishes, clinched their first-ever RMAC title in 2025.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
No matter what happens on Saturday, the 2025 season will be over for Mines cross country. The Oredigger distance fiends will turn their attention to the indoor track & field season which opens with the Mines Alumni Classic Dec. 5-6 at Steinhauer Fieldhouse in Golden.
 
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.