Falcons Split for Weekend Competitions
10/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
After a week off from competition, the Air Force cross country team returns to action this weekend with a pair of meets. Part of the team will travel to South Bend, Ind., on Friday, Oct. 3, for the Notre Dame Invitational, while the rest of the squad heads to Boulder, Colo., for the Rocky Mountain Shootout on Saturday, Oct. 4.
Meet Notes 03: at Notre Dame Invitational, at Rocky Mountain Shootout 
MEET INFORMATION: NOTRE DAME INVITATIONAL
The Notre Dame Invitational, which will be held at the UND Golf Course on Friday, Oct. 3, is slated to begin at 2:00 p.m., with the first of five races. Air Force is one of 24 teams to compete in the Blue Division races, which start with the women's 5K at 4:15 p.m. The men, running a five-mile race, are scheduled to follow at 5:00 p.m. A total of 24 teams will compete in each Blue race, including eight nationally-ranked men's teams and eight nationally-ranked women's teams.
WHO TO WATCH...
The Falcons will send 15 runners (eight men, seven women) to the Notre Dame Invitational. The men will be represented by Dan Caddigan, Riley Coates, Patrick Corona, Matt Dorsey, Kyle Eller, Andrew Johnston, Zach Perkins and Daniel Shellhouse, while the women's field includes Heather Connick, Taylor Drolshagen, Rebecca Esselstein, Hannah Everson, Carina Gillespie, Nicole Hahn and Lindy Long.
MEET INFORMATION: ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHOOTOUT
Eleven members of the men's team will head to 29th-annual Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder on Saturday, Oct. 4. The race will begin at 9:00 a.m., with an 8K course throughout Buffalo Ranch Cross Country Course on Colorado's South Campus. The race will feature several teams from the region, including the top-ranked CU men's team. Although Air Force is not fielding a women's team in Boulder, that 5.8K race will follow the men at 9:45 a.m.
WHO TO WATCH
Grant Caswell, Colin Chehanske, Jason Engel, Grant Garst, Forrest Isenhour, Sean Lyons, Kevin Mihalik, Andrew Milliron, Jimmy Shipley, Joe Taylor and Conner Wilburn will represent the Falcons in Boulder.
HISTORY 101
Air Force hasn't competed at the Notre Dame Invitational since 2011, where the men finished 10th and the women took 21st. The Falcons regularly travel to the Rocky Mountain Shootout, claiming five runner-up finishes for the men (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012) and one for the women (2008).
MEN RECEIVE VOTES IN NATIONAL POLL
The men were listed in the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll that was released on Sept. 30. The Falcons, which return three runners from last season's squad that finished 20th at the NCAA Championships, are listed sixth in the "Others Receiving Votes" category and 36th overall (five points). It is the 11th consecutive week that Air Force has been mentioned in the coaches' poll, dating back to the start of the 2013 season.
EVERSON NAMED AIR FORCE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Hannah Everson was named the Air Force Athlete of the Week on Sept. 22, after pacing the women's team to a runner-up finish at the Woody Greeno Invitational. Completing her first 6K race of the season in 21:57.30, Everson finished second in the University Division field (78 runners) and third in the full field of 216 runners.
WOMEN TAKE SECOND AT NEBRASKA
Backed by Hannah Everson's runner-up finish (21:57.30), the women's team finished second at the Woody Greeno Invitational on Sept. 20. Lindy Long joined Everson at the top of the University Division, as she finished 10th in 22:39.40. Taylor Drolshagen (11th, 22:51.00), Rebecca Esselstein (19th, 23:11.90) and Heather Connick (27th, 23:42.20) rounded out the field take second in the eight-team race.
JOHNSTON LEADS THE MEN IN COLLEGIATE DEBUT
With an 8K debut of 26:18.40, Andrew Johnston paced the men to a third-place finish at Nebraska. Johnston, who finished fourth in the University Division and eighth in the full 257-runner event, led the Falcons to three top-12 finishes, as Sean Lyons and Grant Caswell finished 11th (26:42.40) and 12th (26:44.60), respectively. Conner Wilburn finished 16th with a time of 27:03.10 and Jason Engel placed 26th in 27:24.10 to round of the squad's scoring runners.
LOOKING AHEAD
Air Force is off from competition next week, returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 18, when it travels to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Pre-Nationals Invitational. The meet - the final competition prior to the conference championships - is slated to begin at 11 a.m., on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
Players Mentioned
