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KENOSHA, Wis. – Saturday was historic for the Colorado School of Mines women's cross country team as they finished second in the nation behind Grace Strongman's individual runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The Oredigger men made the podium as well with their third-place finish.
 
The runner-up finish for Mines' women marked the best team performance by an Oredigger team in any sport ever. Strongman's silver medal in the 6K race made her the highest finishing Oredigger in program history, surpassing Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge's bronze medal from last season. Emily LaMena, Lexi Herr, Sierra Wall, and Margaux Basart bolstered Strongman's performance and cemented history for Mines with their all-American runs. LaMena was seventh in the nation, Herr was ninth, Wall crossed 20th, and Basart took 35th, putting all five Oredigger scorers inside the top-40 in a field of 263. Callen Nash and Katie Price made up the rest of the Mines NCAA squad, taking 69th and 122nd, respectively. Also notable for the women was Wall running as a true freshman, and Price toeing the line as a redshirt freshman.
 
Paul Knight fueled the men's 10th consecutive top-three finish as a team by crossing the line fourth in the nation after traversing the 10K course in 29:48.0 Dawson Gunn, Ethan Grolnic, and Max Bonenberger joined Knight as all-Americans, giving the Orediggers a quartet inside the top-40. Gunn grabbed 17th, Grolnic was 33rd, and Bonenberger finished 36th. The trio of Cody Wyman, Jeremiah Vaille, and Jacob Schwarting represented the rest of Mines' squad on the national stage. All three were in the top-80 with Wyman and Schwarting representing two of the top four freshmen in the field. With team bronze, the Orediggers not only extended their streak of top-three finishes, but they moved to 16 straight top-five finishes since 2009 and have never finished lower than ninth since first qualifying as a team in 2005.
 
Grand Valley State was the team champion on the women's side thanks to 65 points, compared to 69 by Mines. The individual women's champion was Tristian Spence from Adams State. Wingate reclaimed the men's crown by scoring 62 points and edging Adams State which tallied 71 points. The Orediggers' 121 points pushed them over Grand Valley State's 122 points. Adams State's Kidus Begashaw won the men's individual title.
 
The historic finish for Mines' women adds to a run of high-level success which started with the Orediggers' first team podium in 2019. Since then, the Mines women have finished third in the nation three times, in 2019, 2022, and 2023. They first qualified for the NCAA meet as a team in 2003 and have now appeared at 10 consecutive NCAA championships and 14 total. Saturday marked the 20th straight appearance for Mines' men at the DII race. There was no NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship race in the fall of 2020.
 
With the DII cross country season in the books, the Orediggers turn their eyes to indoor tack & field. The first indoor meet of the season for Mines will be at home December 5-6 in the form of the Mines Alumni Classic inside Steinhauer Fieldhouse.
 
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.