CSM men place fourth at NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On a cold and snowy day the Colorado School of Mines men’s cross country team earned a fourth-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship held at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park on Saturday morning.

The CSM squad sat in eighth-place through the first 3 K. The Orediggers climbed their way up the standings into fourth-place at the halfway point and finished the race out in that position.

Mines had four All-Americans the most the squad has ever had at the National Championships and was one of just four teams that had four or more runners earn All-American honors.

The senior Ben Zywicki (Colorado Springs, Colo.) led the way for Mines as he finished 22nd overall matching his finish at the 2008 Championships. Zywicki’s time of 31:19 was his fastest time at the National Championships earning him All-American honors for the fourth time during his cross country career. Zywicki becomes the first athlete in the history of Mines to claim All-American honors four times in a sport or single-individual event.

Just behind Zywicki in 30th-place was sophomore Sean Gildea (Thousand Oaks, Calif.). Gildea narrowly missed All-American honors as a true freshman at the 2009 Championships with a 36th-place finish. Gildea earns All-American honors for the first time running a personal best of 31:32 improving his time from last year by over a minute.

Junior Mack McLain (Edmond, Okla.), a six-time track & field All-American, claimed his first All-American honors in cross country. In his two previous appearances at the Championships McLain placed 64th and 71st. This time around with a time of 31:6 McLain finished 34th overall.

Rounding out the group of All-Americans was senior Aaron Swift (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Swift claimed All-American honors for the second time in his career and for the second straight year. Swift placed 37th with a time of 31:37 in the 10 K race.

Russell Drummond (Eugene, Ore.) placed 47th (31:51), Tyler Curtis (Caldwell, ID) placed 57th (31:58) while Frank Socha (Fountain, CO) finished 98th (32:45).

It was the sixth consecutive appearance for the Oredigger men at the National Championships and the sixth time in as many trips in which the squad has placed in the top ten. In both 2009 and 2010 the squad placed in the top four.