Colorado School of the Mines sweeps Lewis Crossover team titles

Ryan Hartman’s move in final 3k gives him Men’s race win; Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge pulls away for Women’s race title

By Michael Newman

Romeoville, Ill – A shorthanded Colorado School of Mines, without top five runners Ryan Knight and Logan Bogovich, still responded with a big win in this 36-team field in which 133 teams were ranked in which this meet was one of the biggest NCAA Division II meets of the season.

Results | Photos

#3 Colorado Mines scored 62 points to win the team title. Even without their Knight and Bogovich, the Orediggers still had 2 runners in the top 6 and 5 runners in the top 22. Ethan Grolnic led his team running 24:09 to finish third on this 8-kilometer course on the Lewis University course. Jeremiah Vaille (7th), Braden Struhs (14th), Alberto Campa (20th), and Matthew Mettler (22nd) rounded out the top five. Their overall spread on those five runners was 35 seconds. #11 Western Washington, led by a ninth-place finish from Kevin McDermott, scored 111 points to finish second. #18 Colorado Christian finished third (194 points) followed by #10 Lewis (200 points) and #16 Biola CA (202 points).

Ryan Hartman of Augustana SD took the lead earlier than was planned. Hartman, who finished 9th in last year’s D2 National meet, pulled away from to run 23:38 for the win. Pre-race favorite Matthew Storer of Colorado Christian ran 23:48 to finish second. “My coach told me to go with a kilometer in the race,” Hartman said. “I felt good and decided to go. If that move did not work, I don’t know what he (my coach) would have done.”

Four of the top six teams in Division II toed the line in the Women’s 6-kilometer race. Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge finished 11th in this race a year ago. She had a chip on her shoulder as she stepped to the line for this race. Ramsey-Rutledge move her way to the front having a six second lead heading into the final kilometer of the race. The fifth-year senior went on to run 20:38 for the win with Kendal Kramer of Alaska-Fairbanks running 20:49 to finish second.

“Last year was one of my “eh” races of the season. I really wanted to come back here and have a great race,” Ramsey-Rutledge said. “I knew the hill at the start would be hard. I started my race after that. My goal was to set a fast pace and then run confident all the way to the finish.”

The strength of the win from Ramsey-Rutledge and the sixth-place finish from Grace Strongman gave Mines the boost they needed. The #5 Orediggers placed two more runners in the top 17 to score 69 points in winning the women’s team title. Margaux Basart was the team’s third runner placing 14 followed by Alexis Herr (17th), and Ashleigh Lee (38th). Their top four spread off Ramsey-Rutledge was 61 seconds. Their overall spread on five was 83 seconds.

#6 Lewis finished second (114 points) led by top 20 finishes from 5-year graduate transfer Sarah May (15th) and Abbey Kozak (18th). #2 Grand Valley State (157 points) finished third followed by #4 Augustana SD (188 points) and #19 Alaska-Fairbanks (200 points) also finishing in the top five teams.