Mines Men Win Fourth NCAA XC Championship

Unofficial Results

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

- Colorado School of Mines claimed the 2024 NCAA Division II men's cross country title in dramatic fashion, engineering a late push to hoist their fourth national title.

The #2-ranked Oredigger men topped the podium for the fourth time in a decade, joining their national championships from 2015, 2019, and 2022, all coming under head coach Chris Siemers.

In the women's race, Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge led Mines with an individual third place, the highest finish ever by an Oredigger woman and only the third top-10 placing in program history. The Mines women finished fifth as a team.

The men's race was a down-to-the-wire thriller as the Orediggers trailed #1 Wingate through the 8.8K timecheck, taking the team lead with less than half a kilometer to go and ultimately beating the defending national champions by three points, 63-66, with Adams State third with 113. Mines was never worse than third at any point in the race.

Logan Bocovich, Loic Scomparin, and Ethan Grolnic came across together in places 7-8-9 to key Mines' scoring, and it was Scomparin's late surge that ultimately sealed the title as he rallied from 31st place at the midpoint of the race. Bocovich - who finished 16th a year ago - also made a move into the top 10 in the final third of the race, while Grolnic, in his first nationals run, made an early move and ran as high as second place at the 6.2K mark. Paul Knight came in 21st, and Dawson Gunn finished close enough to Wingate's fifth finisher in 25th place to ensure Mines would win the trophy, ending the race in his best spot after checking in 35th at 7.8K. 

All five of Mines' scorers earned all-America status. Jeremiah Vaille (37th) and Max Bonenberger (100th) were the Orediggers' sixth and seventh runners. 

The conditions were no better for the women's race as Mines paced its way to fifth place, with Adams State, West Texas A&M, CSU Pueblo, and Grand Valley State making up the top four. The Orediggers were led by Ramsey-Rutledge's phenomenal all-American run, finishing the 6K in 20:34 to capture third place. Her bronze medal marks Mines' best-ever individual women's finish, topping Chloe Cook's seventh place on the same course in 2019. Ramsey-Rutledge stayed at the front of the pack the entire way, never going below fifth place.

Emily LaMena, in her nationals debut, was Mines' second runner in 57th place, with Grace Strongman (63rd), Lexi Herr (70th), and Imani Fernandez-Gorbea (75th) staying in close contact to round out the Oredigger scoring. Margaux Basart finished 111th and Ashleigh Loe 142nd as the sixth and seventh scorers.

West Texas A&M's William Amponsah won his second consecutive men's individual title with Augustana's Ryan Hartman second and Adams State's Romain Legendre third. The women's race was won by Grand Valley State's Lauren Kiley ahead of Alaska Fairbanks' Kendall Kramer, who led Ramsey-Rutledge by six and four seconds, respectively.