Over the weekend the track team competed in the 47th annual Hillsdale College Gina Relays in Hillsdale Michigan. In the first event Senior Tyler Curtis broke the school record and placed second overall out of 35 competitors in the 3000 meter steeplechase finishing with a time of 9:50.00. The men’s 1500 meter was a close race with five racers finishing within the same second interval. Senior Russell Drummond placed 3rd out of 26 in the 1500 with a time of 3:50.78. He was closely followed by Junior Frank Socha who placed 6th with a time of 3:52.39 who was also followed closely by red-shirt freshman Drew Kerschieter who took 9th place with a time of 3:52.90.
Senior Hannah Schuster ran the women’s 1500 meter and broke a personal record with a time of 4:30.95 giving her 10th place out of a field of 28 competitors.
In the 10,000 meter Gina Van Laar Lanser Senior Hannah Cooling became the second ever woman in Mines history to run the 10,000 meter under 40 minutes. Hannah Cooling beat the 40 minute mark by a large margin running the distance in 36:43.62 granting her 9th place out of a field of 21 runners. Marty Andrie, a red-shirt freshman, placed 8th out of 30 with a time of 14.23.71 in the 5000 meter.
But, the most eventful race of the day was the men’s 10,000 meter. In the men’s 10,000 meter sophomore Phil Schneider ran an impressive 29:37.99, placing 3rd in the field of 24 runners and breaking a personal record for himself and making his way into third place in the school record books. Junior Andrew Epperson was close behind Schneider and placed 9th with a time of 29:52.15. He also broke his personal record and placed 5th in the school records. Hardly a second behind, sophomore Derek Alcorn placed 10th with a time of 29:53.16 breaking yet another personal record and making 6th in the school history books.
The history books had to be rewritten once again the following day when Hannah Schuster broke the Mines school record in the 800 meter race. This is the second time she has broken the 800 meter record this year. Senior Tyler Curtis followed up his record breaking run the day before with a 13th place out of 50 runners in the 1500 meter with a time of 4:00.78. His team mates Marty Andrie and Rick Davey took 22nd and 25th respectively.
In the 800 meter senior Russell Drummond and junior Frank Socha took 11th with a time of 1:53.17 and 18th with a time of 1:55.00., these were their best times of the season.
The next event for Mines track and field is in Golden on May 5th.