Men's Cross Country Sets Sites On NCAA
7/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
July 25, 2002
The 2000 and 2001 seasons marked the first time since the 1967 and '68 seasons that the Air Force Academy men's cross country team competed in the NCAA championships two consecutive years. Only once in their 45-year competitive history has the Academy sent a team to the NCAA championships three years in a row (1959-61) and that was before it was necessary to qualify for the NCAAs. Duplicating that feat is the number one goal for the 2002 team.
"Each year, one of our team goals is to finish in the top three in the conference with the understanding that if we are always in the top three, our turn to win will come up," head coach Mark Stanforth said when asked to reflect on his 10 years as the Falcons' head coach. "We've met the top-three goal every year and, in fact, we've finished in the top two in the conference six of the past eight years. Now that we've consistently met that goal, our focus has become more national in nature and we want to go to the NCAAs every year."
So the questions are: Do the Falcons have the firepower to meet their goals and what (or who) stands in their way? Stanforth's answer to the first question is virtually the same every year. "If the guys have a good summer and we can stay healthy, we've got the talent to finish in the top three and challenge for an NCAA berth." The focus is on those returning, not on those who have graduated.
When reminded that the Falcons graduated three all-conference performers, Stanforth again chose to focus on what the Falcons have, not on what they've lost. "I know we graduated three outstanding runners this year; however, that just means that the opportunity is there for others to step up and show what they can do. Every year that we've been in this position, a new group has answered the call."
A little research shows that the preceding statement is not just rhetoric designed to coax a good summer of training from a group of athletes. The 2000 team that finished 16th at the NCAA championship included five runners who were not in the top seven in 1999 when the Falcons finished second in the Mountain West Conference. The 1996 team that won the Falcons' last conference championship also had five runners in the top seven who were not top seven performers for the 1995 conference runner-up team.
C2Cs (Jr.) Ben Payne, MWC 10,000 meter outdoor and 5,000 meter indoor champion, and Chris Acs, cross country MVP in 2000, will lead the Falcons in 2002. They finished fifth and ninth, respectively in the 2001 MWC championships and both are capable of top-three conference finishes in 2002. C1C (Sr.) Jim Blech and C3C (So.) Brian Dumm were the sixth and seventh men on the 2001 team and will be counted on to move into the Falcons' top five. Others most likely to fill the void created by graduation include C1Cs Kelly Church and team captain Rudy Taute along with C3C's Nathan Franz, Thomas Kubler, Derek Storbeck and Abe Wengel. Kubler and Wengel were both in the Falcons' top nine last fall before illness (Kubler) and injury (Wengel) took their toll. Franz and Storbeck exhibited significant potential during the track season so hopefully that success will translate into similar success on the cross country course.
The recruiting class for 2002 is, on paper, as good as any group the Falcons have ever had. The cross country headliners include Mark Walter (League City, Texas) a Texas state runner-up at 3,200 meters with bests of 4:15 and 9:05; Nick Wilson (Jacksonville, Fla.) a Florida state champion in cross country with track bests of 4:21 and 9:17; and North Carolina state championship teammates Jeff Gosselin and Kalib Wilkinson, second and fourth in the North Carolina state cross country meet with track bests of 4:18 and 9:16, respectively. Also in the incoming class are middle distance standout Travis Patterson from Simi Valley, Calif., an Arcadia Invitational champion at 800 meters with a best of 1:53 who also owns a 1,600 best of 4:15; Anthony D'Amato (Midlothian, Va.) with track bests of 4:21 and 9:26; Californians Mike Krestyn (Thousand Oaks) with a 1,600 best of 4:23 and Aaron Brady, Upland, who has a 3,200 meter best of 9:32.
So what about the opposition? The Mountain West Conference, although it only includes six schools that sponsor men's cross country, is among the most competitive conferences in the country. Three of the six teams, BYU, Colorado State and Air Force, have qualified for the NCAA championships each of the last two years and both Utah and New Mexico were ranked in the top 35 last year. The Mountain Region is even more competitive with not only the Mountain West schools but perennial cross country powers Colorado, NCAA champions in 2001 and top-five national finishers eight of the last nine years; NAU, with five top 10 NCAA finishes in the last eight years including fourth in 2001 and Weber State, four top-20 national finishes in the past eight years.
The Academy team will be good and the competition will be outstanding. Sounds like a typical, exciting cross country season that the Falcons are really looking forward to.
