Falcons Travel to NCAA Regional Championships
11/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 11, 2009
The varsity members of the Air Force cross country team will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday, Nov. 14, for the 2009 NCAA Mountain Region Championships. The meet, one of nine regional competitions taking place around the country, will be held at the New Mexico North Golf Course. Action begins at 10:45 a.m., with the men's 10,000-meter race. The women's 6K race will follow at noon.
Meet Notes: at NCAA Mountain Region Championships 
MEET INFORMATION
The Falcons will compete in their first 10K race of the season at 10:45 a.m., while the women's 6K event will follow at 12 p.m. The racecourse, which winds through the school's north campus golf course, is located at 5,085 feet above sea level.
HISTORY 101: MEN
Paced by two all-region runners, the Air Force men's team placed fifth at the 2008 NCAA Mountain Region Championships. The placement was the Falcons' best regional finish since 2004. Then-seniors Matt Williams and Sean Houseworth finished 15th and 24th, respectively, to earn all-region accolades, while then-sophomore Justin Tyner finished 38th in the 109-runner race.
HISTORY 101: WOMEN
Then-junior Katie Lynch claimed the Falcons' best finish at the regional meet in over five years, as she placed 44th at the 2008 NCAA Mountain Region Championships to lead the squad to a 13th-place finish in the team standings. Classmates Ally Romanko (69th) and Katie Anderson (71st) were the team's second- and third-fastest finishers.
TYNER SHINES AT MWC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Crossing the finish line in a career-best time of 23:45, Justin Tyner picked up a third-place finish at the 2009 Mountain West Conference Championships on Oct. 31. Tyner, who finished just 10 seconds off of the meet winner, collected the Falcons' best individual finish since 2005 and tied for the second-best finish ever.
ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
Junior Justin Tyner and senior Zach Nordahl claimed all-conference honors following top-14 finishes at the MWC Championships on Oct. 31. Tyner's third-place finish garnered him first-team accolades, while Nordahl placed 13th to earn second-team honors. It is the second consecutive year that Nordahl has earned all-conference honors. The pair were the only two runners in the top-17 that did not represent conference champion New Mexico or runner-up BYU.
MEN TAKE THIRD AT CONFERENCE MEET
With all five scoring runners finishing within the top 25, the Air Force men placed third at the conference championships on Oct. 31. In addition to the Falcons' two all-conference performers, Jonathan Rock finished 19th and James Walmsley placed 21st. Senior Andy Schweitzer rounded out the Air Force scoring runners with a 23rd-place time.
LET THE YOUNG LEAD
With a 20th-place finish, freshman Jennifer Bremser recorded the Falcons' best individual placement at the Mountain West Conference Championships since 2005. It is also the first time this season that a member of the Falcons' freshman class paced the field.
FALCONS TAKE FOURTH AT CONFERENCE MEET
Four of the Falcons' five scoring runners finished within the top 30 at the MWC meet on Oct. 31, as Air Force picked up a fourth-place finish in the team standings. That placement is the best for an Air Force women's team since 2004. Behind Jennifer Bremser's 20th-place finish, Katherine Ward and Auriele Fain finished 23rd and 24th, respectively. Katie Lynch rounded out the Falcons' top-four finishers with a 27th-place finish.
CONFERENCE RANKINGS...
Following the conference championships, Justin Tyner is ranked third on the 8K performance list with his career-best time of 23:45. James Walmsley's time of 24:29 from the Pre-Nationals Meet on Oct. 17 is ranked 17th, while Zach Nordahl is ranked 19th with a time of 24:42 at the conference championships. On the women's side, Ally Romanko is ranked 23rd in the 6K standings with the time of 22:24 that she set at the Pre-Nationals Meet.
