Men Win Fresno State Invitational, Women Take Second

Sept. 5, 2014

FRESNO, Calif. - With all five scoring runners finishing in the top eight, the Air Force men's cross country team easily won the Fresno State Invitational this morning (Sept. 5), as they opened the 2014 season at Woodward Park in Fresno. The women claimed a second-place finish after placing five within the top 12.

"I thought today was very productive, for both the men and the women," head coach Ryan Cole said after his team's first race. "We wanted to get a race under our belt, preview the conference course and get a better idea about where the fitness level is at for both squads."

Combining for 30 points on the 6K course, the men finished ahead of Mountain West opponents Fresno State (44 points) and San Jose State (59 points) in the Division I race.

Clocking a time of 18:41.40, sophomore Kyle Eller paced the Falcons with a fourth-place finish in the collegiate field (fifth overall). Air Force's five scoring runners were separated by less than one second, while the squad rounded out the top 10. Junior Dan Caddigan and senior Riley Coates both crossed the finish line in 18:41.90, while senior Zach Perkins finished seventh in 18:42.00 and junior Patrick Corona rounded out the scoring runners with an eighth-place time of 18:50.80.

Classmate Daniel Shellhouse finished ninth (18:50.80) in the overall standings of the 57-runner event, while sophomores Matt Dorsey and Jason Engel placed 13th (18:58.30) and 14th (18:59.10), respectively, and junior Sean Bapty finished 16th with a time of 19:05.10.

Backed by a third-place individual finish from junior Hannah Everson, the women placed second in the five-team meet. Air Force accounted for 39 points to finish just six points behind host and meet winner Fresno State (33), while the pair easily separated themselves from the rest of the Division I field, which included conference foes UNLV (third, 66 points) and San Jose State (fourth, 93 points), as well as Cal State Bakersfield (fifth, 146 points).

Clocking a 4200-meter time of 14:53.20, Everson placed third in the 66-runner event. Senior Heather Connick finished sixth in 15:00.30, while classmate Taylor Drolshagen and sophomore Lindy Long placed eighth (15:02.60) and 10th (15:10.60), respectively. Making her collegiate debut, freshman Nicole Hahn rounded out the scoring runners with a 12th-place time of 15:17.60.

Hahn's placement sparked a stretch of four consecutive Air Force finishes, as senior Rebecca Esselstein finished 13th (15:20.40), freshman Carina Gillespie took 14th (15:22.00) and classmate Giulianna Vessa placed 15th with a time of 15:28.20. Fellow freshman Katie Burnham rounded out the Air Force contingent with a 23rd-place time of 15:52.50.

"Both teams emphasized packing-up and went out a bit conservative, so we know there's a lot of room for growth," Cole continued. "Pushing out way up that improvement curve will be a strong objective in the coming weeks."

The Falcons, who will return to Woodward Park in late October for the MW Cross Country Championships, are off from competition until Saturday, Sept. 20, when they travel to Lincoln, Neb., for the 25th-annual Woody Greeno Invitational.

Complete Results: Fresno State Invitational

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