Air Force Academy
NCAA Mountain Regional
Hannah Everson Captures Mountain Region Title
11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 13, 2015
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Senior Hannah Everson captured the regional cross country title this afternoon (Nov. 13) in Albuquerque, as the Air Force cross country team wrapped up competition at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships.
Everson claimed the first regional title in program history, as she completed the 6K race around the UNM North Golf Course in a time of 20:45.42. That time bettered the full field of 127 runners – a field that included the top two teams in the nation – by more than 10 seconds.
"The girls went out there today ready to battle for a spot at NCAAs, and I know we all left it out there on the course, even if we couldn't reach our ultimate team goal," Everson said. "Individually, the race played out very differently than expected, but turned out very favorable for me. I wanted to score as few points as I could to help our team score, and was able to take over after 4K and win. As I continue on to NCAAs, I'm running for my teammates, because I couldn't have made it this far without them by my side the whole way."
Backed by top-four finishes from junior Kyle Eller and senior Patrick Corona, the 21st-ranked men's team finished fifth in the region. Eller clocked a career-best 10K time of 29:58.10 to finish third in the 106-runner event, while Corona finished fourth with a personal-best time of 30:00.18. Eller became just the third Falcon to break the 30-minute mark in a 10K cross country race to debut in third on the program's all-time list. Corona's time is the program's fourth-fastest and he know holds two of the five-fastest 10K marks in Air Force history (30:00.40 in 2014).
Ten places separated the Falcons' remaining three scorers in the race. Seniors Daniel Shellhouse and Dan Caddigan finished 34th (31:15.26) and 39th (31:18.49), respectively, while junior Matt Dorsey placed 44th with a time of 31:39.70.
The men registered 124 points to finish fifth in the 16-team event. Top-ranked Colorado won the regional title with 67 points, while No. 11 UTEP finished second (77) and third-ranked BYU took third (98). Southern Utah, which was receiving votes in the weekly rankings, tallied 114 points to finish fourth, while the Falcons rounded out the top five.
"Our men were again led by great outings from Patrick and Kyle," head coach Ryan Cole said. "Our upperclassmen also ran very solid efforts in our pursuit of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. It was another close team competition and regardless of the outcome, I'm very proud of how we've competed, not only today, but throughout the fall."
The women earned an additional top 25 finish from sophomore Carina Gillespie, who placed 21st with a time of 21:35.01. The Falcons' final three scoring runners – sophomore Katie Burnham, junior Samantha Skold, junior Lindy Long - finished within eight places of one another. Burnham led the trio with a 48th-place time of 22:18.70, while Skold and Long finished 53rd (22:24.28) and 56th (22:28.82), respectively.
Air Force accumulated 175 points to tie with Northern Arizona for sixth in the 19-team meet. Second-ranked Colorado won the regional with 49 points, edging out top-ranked New Mexico by one point (50). No. 20 Utah finished third with 116 points, while No. 24 BYU (126) and No. 25 Weber State (128) rounded out the top five.
"This was a strong yet tough day for our women," Cole said. "Hannah set out to lead our team to nationals and found herself able to cruise away with the win. But all of our girls are hurting a bit. Our women have come so far in the past year. To be one of the first teams out of qualifying, it's incredibly difficult because I feel so strongly about how the girls have prepared and competed throughout the year. We've had a historic season for AF women's cross country and Hannah's not done yet. She's continuing to set a high standard and all of the girls are extremely excited about the future of our program."
Two additional members of the men's team completed the 10K course at UNM North. Sophomore Andrew Johnston clocked a time of 31:51.24 to finish 50th, while classmate Andrew Milliron placed 82nd with a time of 33:05.07. Fellow sophomore Giulianna Vessa also competed in the women's race, finishing 81st with a time of 22:59.05.
While Everson's win secured her an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships, the rest of the field, including team and individual at-large selections, will be announced tomorrow (Nov. 14). The NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 21, in Louisville.
Players Mentioned
