October 7, 2024 - The West Virginia University Mine Rescue Team has evolved from the seed of an idea born out of determination to a highly respected competition team earning accolades around the world for its performance. 

Built by students from multiple disciplines on campus and industry experts with a passion for safety and rescue, the team already has two international and four national champion titles under its belt. Its commitment to one of the state’s most celebrated and noble professions continues, honoring the Mountaineers and coal miners who have shaped West Virginia through their grit, determination and hard work. 

Travis Hartsog is a Mining Engineering alumnus from the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and the person whose idea it was to form the team. 

Travis Hartsog, WVU mining engineering alumnus and founding member of the WVU Mine Rescue Team. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit)

The West Virginia native grew up watching his father, a mining engineer, work in the industry. He knew it was his path, too. The summer he turned 18, he worked underground as a surveyor before he began classes at WVU. 

“To be honest, my parents were scared to death that I was gonna enjoy making money and not wanna go to school in the fall,” he recalled. “After that summer I thought ‘You know, this is fun and I enjoy it, but I know I’m not going to be able to do this forever.’ This can be tough work, so going to school to be able to continue would be the best thing.” 

Hartsog said that in his first few years taking classes in the mining department, it was rare for his teachers to have hands-on industry experience. 

Members of the WVU Mine Rescue Team cautiously approach a training exercise at the Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies, also known as Dolls Run. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit)

“I understood a little more about the practicality and I started thinking, ‘OK, well, they’re teaching us this but in the real world, this is gonna hold you back because this law, that law and everything. I understand why they don’t teach the laws, but I wanted to find a way to help students who may not have an internship underground or at a mine until they graduate.” 

Hartsog said there was a lot of discussion about building a mine rescue team, but little momentum. He wanted his classmates to experience the same hands-on learning he’d had. At the time, rescue teams out west, like the one at the Colorado School of Mines, were more common, so he reached out to them for guidance. 

Hartsog’s push to get the team going was a labor of love and an opportunity to apply his Mountaineer spirit. With limited resources available, students had to get creative and built the program from scratch. In 2009, the Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies at WVU was established and ready for action. 

“Even though Dolls Run — the Academy’s nickname — isn’t a real mine, it gives them a vision,” Hartsog said. 

Ashton Crawford, left, Evan Rice, right, simulating the rescue of injured miner Braden Kiesel, center, while maintaining proper treatment and transfer of the patient to safety. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit)
 

By Hartsog’s senior year, he’d managed to get all the necessary equipment donated. He rounded up 11 students and the team took off, growing its skills and signing up to compete.  

Since Hartsog’s days at WVU, the team has gone on to sweep championships, winning against established teams like the one from the Colorado School of Mines. Justin Waybright, now in his third year as captain and who also grew up listening to stories of his father’s work in the mines, has been a key component to the team’s success. 

WVU student and Mine Rescue Team Captain Justin Waybright is dressed in his full gear and ready for a training exercise at the Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologies at WVU, also known as Dolls Run. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit) 

“I had the background from him of just knowing the process before actually going there,” Waybright said. “Being able to just go see everything really solidified me knowing that that’s what I wanted to do.” 

Waybright served as the briefing officer when the team took home two international victories in spring 2023 and 2024. At this year’s professional national competition in Kentucky in August, Waybright and mining engineering student Dylan Shilling earned fourth and fifth place respectively in the BG-4 Bench, a skills match where members troubleshoot problems with equipment and breathing apparatuses typically used in mine rescue. 

Out of 85 professional benchmen, Waybright and Shilling took top positions as the only collegiate members to compete. Waybright said he feels the camaraderie among those in the mining industry is an integral part of building support and trust, especially when it comes to safety training and emergency preparedness. 

The 2024 West Virginia Mine Rescue team. Top, left to right: Cole Delisle, dual Mining/Civil Engineering; Ian Stengel, Electrical Engineering; Conner Keddie, Mining Engineering; Tristen Kucera, Mining/Civil Engineering; Ashton Crawford, Mining Engineering; Dylan Shilling, Mining Engineering; Logan Holbrook, Biomedical Engineering; Brendan Del Coro, Forest Resources Management; Justin Waybright, Mining Engineering and Evan Rice, Mechanical Engineering. Bottom, left to right: Joseph Statuto, Engineering Technology; Samantha Roark, Mining Engineering; Grace Hansen, Mechanical Engineering; Trent Cavanaugh, Mining Engineering; August Lasko, Mining Engineering and Braden Kiesel, Mining Engineering. (WVU Photo/Paige Nesbit)

“Every time we go to a big professional competition like that, it really gives us more insight on what it is and what all they do, what it means to them — because they’re the ones that are actually working there, going in,” Waybright said. 

After graduation, Hartsog worked his way up to operations manager, gaining experience in different roles all over the state before transitioning to a project engineer position in Beckley. He has also stayed involved with the WVU Mine Rescue team. 

“You know it gives you a blue suit feeling,” Hartsog said. “It was worth it. It was fun, and I’m extremely proud of what it has become. It’s grown further than I ever thought it would. Coal impacts my life every day by giving me a career and giving me hope, giving my children hope. It’s extremely important, it’s in way more products and things than people ever realize. If it can’t be grown, it must be mined.”