Results

INDIANAPOLIS - Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge won the NCAA Division II national championship in the women's 5,000m to lead an explosive first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships that saw Mines earn three medals.

Hayley Rayburn finished third in the women's pole vault, and the night ended in a cliffhanger as the men's 5,000m final results remained under review after Loic Scomparin finished second; all three medalists finish as First-Team All-Americans.

Ramsey-Rutledge was not to be denied in her signature event as the national recordholder ran away from the pack in the final dozen laps to win by seven seconds in 16:03.45. Ramsey-Rutledge and Adams State's Tristian Spence ran together for the middle part of the race, but as the two caught up to lapped traffic with 12 circuits to go, Ramsey-Rutledge made her move and blazed to the title, dropping four straight sub-:39 splits including a 34.79 final sprint to the line to win. 

Ramsey-Rutledge is the Orediggers' first-ever national champion on the track indoors, and the first in any season since Hannah Davey Briggs won the steeplechase in 2004. Hannah Miller was Mines' only other previous women's national champion, capturing the 2023 pole vault crown. 

The men's race was no less dramatic as a four-man pack of Adams State's Romain Legendre and Awet Beraki, West Texas A&M's William Amponsah, and Scomparin controlled the back half of the race. Legendre made his move with about a kilometer to go and Scomparin and Amponsah went with him, and Scomparin eventually moved to the second position with three laps left, where he finished in 13:36.69 behind Legendre's 13:33.58. The race results were declared under official review, however, due to an inspection of Legendre's shoes, and it was announced that awards would be held on Friday pending that outcome. 

In a historically deep women's pole vault field, Rayburn came out in third place after clearing 4.37m without a miss. Rayburn entered at 4.17m and easily cleared it before taking out 4.27m; she then passed on the next bar and moved up to 4.37m with two other competitors left, clearing it on her first try. She had a crack a would-be PR of 4.42m before exiting the competition. Dale Thompson ended 16th in the event, clearing her opening bar of 3.77m before bowing out at 3.92m. 

Also on the track on Thursday, Grace Strongman ran the second-fastest women's mile in Mines history but fell victim to a fast set of prelims to end up in 10th place despite an outstanding 4:47.15 time. The placing earns Strongman Second-Team All-America honors. Margaux Basart finished 16th in the women's 5,000m with a time of 16:54.60, and Paul Knight is unofficially 11th in the men's 5K at 14:02.34 pending the final results. In his NCAA debut, Jonah Fallon finished 15th in the 400m in 48.05. 

Avery Wright finished 12th in the pentathlon, earning Second-Team All-America honors in the multi-event. Wright scored 3,663 total points, her third-highest career total and second-best of the season, buoyed by a strong 60m hurdles start in 8.61 seconds and a 12.55m shot put. She also marked 1.47m in the high jump and 5.23m in the long jump before ending in an indoor personal-best 2:24.69 800m. 

Day 2 of the championship meet starts Friday with the first Oredigger event starting at 12:15 p.m. ET.