Oredigger all-stars

by | Oct 30, 2024 | Fall 2024, Inside Mines | 0 comments

Zoe Baker

Making cross country and track & field history

Earlier this year, cross country and track & field star and Academic All-American of the Year Zoe Baker ’22 was named Academic All-America by the College Sports Communicators organization. Baker earned First-Team Academic All-America honors and was selected as the top overall student-athlete in NCAA Division II women’s track & field for an historic third consecutive year, making her the first three-time recipient of the award in any sport in D-II history.

Baker concluded her career as a five-time Academic All-American, including four first-team selections, both of which are the most in Mines Athletics history. A 15-time All-American, Baker finished fourth in the outdoor 10,000m and was ninth in the 5,000m and was an NCAA indoors qualifier in the 3K and 5K, finishing 14th and 13th. The NCAA Elite 90 Award winner indoors, Baker won the RMAC title in the indoor 5K and medaled in the indoor 3K and outdoor 10K.

Three other cross country and track & field student-athletes were named Academic All-America alongside Baker: Margaux Basart and Hannah Miller both earned First-Team Academic All-America honors, and Molly Maksin appeared on the second team.

Walter Pennington

A Major League Baseball debut

Walter Pennington ’20 made his Major League Baseball debut with the Kansas City Royals on Friday, July 5, 2024, against the Colorado Rockies, his hometown team. The left-handed pitcher was called up from Triple-A Omaha at the bottom of the eighth inning, lasting for two-thirds of the frame and striking out one batter.

Pennington is currently in his fourth season of professional baseball after signing as an undrafted free agent with the Royals in August 2020. He is the first Oredigger to play in the MLB in more than a century.

Lukas Taggart

U.S. Amateur qualifier

Oredigger golfer Lukas Taggart qualified for the 124th U.S. Amateur this year, winning co-medalist honors in the qualifier at Columbine Country Club on July 19, 2024. The U.S. Amateur was played from August 12 to 18 at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.

Taggart was given Third-Team Academic All-America honors as a member of the At-Large team from the College Sports Communicators organization this year. It is Taggart’s first career honor, and he is Mines golf’s first Academic All-American since Mark Vallee in 2007 and 2008.

Taggart also earned First-Team All-RMAC and First-Team Academic All-RMAC honors, ending the season ranked No. 69 in Division II. He and his teammate, Max Lange, were named to the CSC Academic All-District team in June 2024.

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