Air Force Academy
NCAA Mountain Regional
Falcons Conclude Action at NCAA Regional Championships
11/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 12, 2011
PROVO, Utah - The Air Force cross country team concluded action at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships this afternoon (Saturday, Nov. 12) in Provo, Utah. The men, paced by senior Jim Walmsley, finished eighth in the 17-team race, while junior Melissa Fuerst led the women to a 13th-place finish in the 19-team event.
In the first 10K race of the season, Walmsley recorded a time of 31:14.0 to finish 21st in the 115-runner race at East Bay Golf Course. The senior captain paced all five scoring runners to finishes within the top 50. Junior Jeremy Drenckhahn clocked a time of 31:38.8 to finish 39th, while sophomore Isaiah Bragg finished right behind with a 40th-place time of 31:39.1. Air Force also earned back-to-back finishes from sophomore Charlie Perkins and junior Andrew Quallio, as the duo finished 49th (31:59.6, first career 10K race) and 50th (32:02.2, career-best), respectively.
In all, only 48.2 seconds separated the five scoring runners for Air Force, marking third-closest pack in the field (Colorado, 30.6 seconds; Northern Arizona 45.3 seconds).
Sophomores Gavin Owens and Jake Hawkins also competed at the regional race, placing 62nd (32:27.2) and 67th (32:35.5), respectively. It was the first career 10K race for both Owens and Hawkins.
The Falcons accounted for 199 points to place eighth in the 17-team field. BYU won the regional title on its home course with 49 points, while Colorado finished second with 55 points to earn the region's second automatic bid to the national championship meet. Northern Arizona finished third with 69 points, while New Mexico (178 points) and Southern Utah (187 points) rounded out the top five.
On the women's side, Fuerst placed 32nd with a 6K time of 22:05.7.Air Force also earned scoring finishes from three of her classmates, as Jen Bremser, Kate Kanetzky and Morgan Mosby placed 49th (22:33.3), 69th (23:05.1) and 82nd (23:20.4), respectively. Senior Katie Carroll rounded out the Falcons' scorers with a time of 23:31.9.
Freshman Heather Connick made her regional debut with a time of 23:39.3, while sophomore Annette Eichenberger clocked a time of 23:48.8 (102nd) in her first career regional race.
Air Force tallied 320 points to finish 13th in the 19-team race. New Mexico and Colorado tied for first with 84 points apiece. Weber State finished fourth with 135 points, while BYU and Colorado State finished fourth (140 points) and fifth (154 points), respectively, to round out the top five.
Players Mentioned
