Chris Siemers finished his 13th season as the head cross country coach at Colorado School of Mines in 2024. Siemers joined the Orediggers in 2010 as an assistant cross country coach and took over as interim head coach in 2012 with the interim tag going away in 2013.
Siemers headed the 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2024 NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country National Champions and coached the first individual cross country national champion in program history. Over the last decade, he has built Mines into a national power in distance running. On the men's side, 29 Orediggers have earned 52 Cross Country All-America honors under his guidance. 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). On the women's side, 11 individuals have earned 16 Cross Country All-America honors under Siemers' watch. As a team, the women earned their first national podium finish in 2019 by finishing third at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The Oredigger women added a second podium finish in 2021 by taking fourth at the national meet. They matched their top finish of third in 2022 and did the same in 2023. Mines’ women have also finished as high as second at the RMAC Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships multiple times. Their most recent team silver at the regional race was in 2023 with conference runner-up honors in 2022. Furthermore, no men's team coached by Siemers has ever finished lower than fifth in the nation and his women's team boast seven top-10 national finishes.
Academically, Siemers has guided 21 Orediggers to 43 CoSIDA Academic All-American honors while overseeing two Brechler Award-winning women’s teams and one men's team as owners of the RMAC’s highest GPA. His efforts on and off the course have led to numerous honors including USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country National Coach of the Year (2015, 2019, 2022, 2024), CaptainU Division II Men’s Cross Country College Coach of the Year (2012), seven-time USTFCCCA South Central Men’s Coach of the Year (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) and eight-time RMAC Men’s Coach of the Year (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).
In 2024, Siemers and the Oredigger men brought home the fourth team national championship in program and school history. The women notched their seventh top-10 finish in program history after finishing fifth in the nation. Mines' men rolled into the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships after an unbeaten regular season and sweeps of the RMAC and South Central Region championships. Even still, they were underdogs to Wingate which had won the title the year prior. In thrilling, come-from-behind fashion, the Oredigger men rallied to the narrowest of victories. They scored 63 team points compared to 66 by the Bulldogs. In the women's race, Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge took individual bronze, the highest finish for any individual in program history as the women recorded 238 points. Overall, Mines had seven individuals finish as all-Americans including six men and one woman. The men's conference and region titles were their sixth straight. During the summer of 2025, Siemers' men's squad was awarded its first-ever RMAC Brechler Award for having the highest team cumulative GPA in the conference.
As thrilling as the 2024 crown was, the 2022 season was the most dominant season in program history, and Siemers was at the helm. He guided the men to a sweep of the RMAC, South Central and NCAA Championships which marked the third national title in the history of Colorado School of Mines. The men's 43 points at the NCAA Championships gave them the largest margin of victory in race history, finishing 134 points ahead of national runner-up Wingate. Siemers' 2022 squad was anchored by Dillon Powell who won the first individual national title in program history to complete an undefeated season. Powell won the national championship by nearly 20 seconds, earned his second straight South Central Region crown by a 45-second margin, and claimed his second straight RMAC title by 14 seconds. Powell's efforts netted him RMAC Runner of the Year, USTFCCCA South Central Region Runner of the Year, and USTFCCCA National Runner of the Year. The RMAC team title on the men's side was Siemers' fourth straight and gave him six of the previous seven. At the regional level, Siemers' men claimed their second straight championship and five of the previous seven. But Siemers' dominance wasn't limited to the men's side. Under his guidance, the Oredigger women matched every program-best finish by taking third in the nation, second in the region and second in the RMAC. Molly Maksin, Zoe Baker, and Grace Strongman gave Mines three USTFCCCA All-Americans. Overall, the men appeared in seven races during the season and won five team titles. The women ran seven races during the season and claimed two team titles with two runner-up finishes. A year later, in 2023, the Oredigger women produced four USTFCCCA All-American finishes which marked the most in program history to date.
While 2022 was the most dominant season in program history, it was the 2019 campaign that cemented Siemers' legacy. He guided the men to a sweep of the RMAC, South Central and NCAA Championships marking the second national title in the history of Colorado School of Mines. The women also made history by taking second at the conference and regional meets before claiming third place in the nation. It was the women's first podium finish in program history. A total of nine Orediggers earned USTFCCCA All-America status including six men and three women. The men were led by Kyle Moran who posted the men's highest individual finish at fourth in the nation. Chloe Cook accomplished the same feat for the women by finishing seventh in the nation. Capping it all off were team-best scores of 133 for the women and 57 for the men. The men's 79-point margin of victory over Adams State was the largest gap between #1 and #2 since 1978.
Siemers' first national title came in 2015 as the Oredigger men brought Mines its first national championship in any sport as they raced to a NCAA Division II crown. The Orediggers got All-American performances from Marty Andrie (18th), Nathanael Williams (21st), Dan Mahoney (22nd) and Grant Colligan (33rd). Along with Seth Topper, Josh Hoskinson and Logan Winfield, Siemers’ Orediggers upended three-time defending champion and RMAC rival Adams State by 27 points (100-127).
With Siemers as an assistant coach, Mines’ men placed fourth at the NCAA Championships in 2010 and fifth in 2011. He also helped the Oredigger men climb as high as No. 4 in the USTFCCCA Division II Program of the Year standings in the 2011-12 academic year.
As a student-athlete, Siemers attended and competed at Western State where he was a three-time cross country All-American and helped the Mountaineers to two national championships (2001, 2002). He graduated from Western State in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and continued his running career as a two-time Olympic trials qualifier.
Siemers broke the 18-year old Colorado state marathon record in 2011 with a time of 2:18.48 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon. He was also a three-time all-state selection and Foot Locker All-American as a prep runner for Fenton High School in Bensenville, Illinois with two all-state honors in track & field.
