eric.baranoski
Sep 13, 20226 min
Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
The Colorado Mines men have garnered most of the national attention in Golden, Colorado over the last few years -- and rightfully so! Their mass depth has led to them securing some of the fastest distance marks in Division Two history as well as a 2019 cross country national title.
But the Orediggers have quite the women's team as well. After thriving during the 2021 cross country season, Colorado Mines looks like they have a collection of women who can potentially be even better in 2022.
And when you consider how strong they already proved to be throughout last fall, that's a big statement to make.
The Colorado Mines women began their 2021 cross country season at the Wyoming Invite.
Right out of the gate, the women from Golden, Colorado had a fairly decent idea of where they stood in the D2 hierarchy of cross country teams. It is, after all, easy to establish a benchmark when you go up against state schools such Colorado State, Colorado and Western Colorado in your season opener.
The Orediggers finished behind Colorado State and Colorado while beating the host Wyoming, as well as Western Colorad, in a nice rust-buster over 6000 feet of altitude.
The Colorado Mines women were led by the usual duo of Zoe Baker and Molly Maksin, a scoring duo that finished 18th and 25th while their supporting cast went 28-29-31 in what may have been a team effort that was designed for these women not to go all-out.
The Orediggers later chose to test the waters in Arkansas at the Chile Pepper XC Festival. However, despite having all their scoring members in the top-60 of the overall results, the Orediggers, surprisingly, didn't have a true low-stick.
Heather Keniry was a pleasant surprise in 28th place and she was followed by Maskin in 29th place. Not too far behind those two was Brin Strouse (42nd), Alayna Szuch (49th) and Holly Moser (57th), a nice display of depth with almost zero scoring deficiencies.
Finishing 6th overall in a competitive field was fairly encouraging, but when you realize that star front-runner Zoe Baker didn't even race, then their collective team effort became even more impressive.
With the RMAC XC Championships as their next meet, the Colorado Mines women knew that they would need a perfect race, and have Adams State make a couple of mistakes, in order for the Orediggers to take home the conference title.
That, however, was a lot to ask.
The Grizzlies put all five of their scorers in the top-15 of the results. Meanwhile, Colorado Mines was headlined by great scoring potency from Zoe Baker (4th) and Heather Keniry (8th).
But with Szuch, Strouse and Raichart going 17-19-23, the supporting cast that the Orediggers boasted, while solid, just wasn't as strong as their title-winning rivals.
That string of results wasn't going to cut it when contending for gold in the always-loaded Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, but earning a runner-up result over the likes of Western Colorado, CSU-Pueblo and UC-Colorado Springs was still extremely impressive. It also gave the 'Mines women tons of momentum going into their regional and national meets.
The same result ensued at the South Central Regional XC Championships as Zoe Baker (9th) was the only Oredigger in the top-10.
The Orediggers limited top-15 firepower was exposed by Adams State for the second time in two weeks, but the Colorado Mines women still went 9-17-20-21-30 which was good for enough for a runner-up result once more.
But frankly, no one was beating the Grizzlies. For the Colorado Mines women to have as much postseason success as they were having, optimism for this group had to be high as they entered the national stage.
At the NCAA XC Championships, it was Molly Maksin showcasing her ability to be a true low-stick, finishing as the first Oredigger across the line at 23rd place for an All-American honor. Zoe Baker was close behind in 25th place, serving as the second and final All-American for Colorado Mines that day.
While that would be the end of their individual All-American honors, the Orediggers' depth was probably the best it was all season. Heather Kearney was 47th in her last race with Colorado Mines while Brin Strouse finished 62nd and Alayna Szuch placed 68th.
That would ultimately be enough for the Colorado Mines women to secure a monumental 4th place result, earning a podium finish that was just 11 points ahead of the Wingate Bulldogs.
Six out of the seven national meet runners return from last year’s podium 4th place.
And the best part? The Orediggers will retain their two All-Americans.
Losing Heather Keniry, in most years, would be a brutal loss. She was so valuable in the middle portion of this lineup during the 2021 cross country season. And while the overall depth of this team is capable of filling most of her scoring prowess, she still gave this group the necessary edge that put them on the podium rather than the dreaded 5th place spot.
But Keniry's departure in 2022 isn't expected to be as damaging as it would be in other years...but more on that in a moment. Let's first explore the women who are returning from last year's squad.
Let’s start with Zoe Baker. She has consistently proven that she is a national-caliber threat in basically any race that she’s in. In fact, she’s won races like the 2020 RMAC XC Championships and has been a cross country All-American multiple times.
However, maybe the best part about Baker is that, despite being a low-stick, she can still offer greater scoring improvements in her postseason meets compared to last year. At the NCAA XC Championships, for instance, she may have left roughly 10 to 15 points on the table.
Of course, Baker isn't the only returning front-runner.
Could we say that Molly Maksin had a breakout year last fall?
Yes, undoubtedly.
She ran fairly well in the loaded Chile Pepper XC Festival last fall by finishing 29th overall in a new 5k best of 17:36. And although she had an "off" race at the RMAC XC Championships finishing 30th, she quickly rebounded at the NCAA XC Championships, finishing 23rd overall and earning her first All-American cross country honor.
Much like Baker, there's still room for Maskin to be significantly better in 2022 than she was in the postseason. She likely could have been 15 to 20 points better at her conference meet and there is also a small amount of room for improvement when looking at her national meet performance.
But don't mistake "room to improve" with scoring deficiencies. Almost the entire reason why this team was on the podium last year is because Maskin was an All-American.
After those two women we have Brin Strouse.
Strouse didn’t have a ton of collegiate racing experience before last fall, but you could tell that she only got better as she got more comfortable with the collegiate racing environment. Over 6000 meters, she went from 22:24 to 21:45 and emerged as the fourth scorer on this team at the national meet, earning a key scoring spot in the process.
If Strouse was able to do that in her first real season of competitive cross country, then her upside in 2022 is incredibly exciting. She could be due for a huge breakout year.
Wrapping up the returners from last year's lineup is the trio of Alayna Szuch, Holly Moser and senior Alex Raichart. While all three of those women were at the same fitness level for most of last fall, Szuch and Moser showcased their ability to perform under pressure by placing 66th and 69th at the national meet, respectively.
Seeing Strouse, Szuch and Moser all finish between 60th and 70th at last year's NCAA XC Championships leads us to believe that at least one of those women could transition to be a true low-stick or All-American if they maintain their natural progression and stay healthy.
Those women, however, are just the returners. What about the rookies and transfers?
This year's Colorado Mines roster features two transfers who could make this ranking look embarrassingly low.
Clare Peters ran on the NC State running club team and has all of the club's distance records. She comes in with a 6k PR on grass of 21:48 and a 5k PR on the track of 16:49! Those are outstanding marks to see at the club level.
Peters will surely benefit from having new teammates to push her in a more competitive environment. And yet, at the same time, trying to figure out what kind of impact she'll be able to translate to the Division Two level remains an unknown.
Watch out for her, she could be the biggest (and most unexpected) breakout star of the year.
The other transfer is Jenna Ramsey from Emporia State who was an indoor national qualifier in the 5000 meters earlier this year. She eventually finished 10th on that stage in a new personal best of 16:41.
We're big believers in Ramsey. We currently have the newest Oredigger distance talent listed as a "Just Missed" name in our preseason individual rankings. And while there are legitimate questions about how some of her talent will translate to the grass, she should be able to at least make up for the loss of Keniry.
With a reliable group of veteran returners (Zoe Baker, Molly Maksin, Alayna Szuch, Brin Strouse), the addition of two impact transfers (Jenna Ramsey and Clare Peters) and a handful of incoming freshman (Sadie McBain, Josie Mejiia, Callen Nash, Emma Nelson), the Colorado Mines women have the potential to do big things this year...and maybe even make things somewhat interesting with Adams State.
Admittedly, a lot of this team's success is hinging on general improvements, becoming more consistent and banking on some of these newer women to quickly adjust to altitude.
But on paper, it's hard to see a scenario where the Colorado Mines women aren't on the podium come December.