Air Force Trio Qualifies to NCAA Championships
11/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Nov. 14, 2015
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Three members of the Air Force cross country team earned a spot in the 2015 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, the national selection committee announced this afternoon (Nov. 14). Senior Hannah Everson, junior Kyle Eller and senior Patrick Corona earned individual berths into the national meet following strong performances at the Mountain Regional Championships.
The NCAA Division I Championships will take place next Saturday (Nov. 21) at the E.P. ‘Tom' Sawyer State Park in Louisville.
Everson, who won the Mountain Region title yesterday, will be the first Academy representative in the women's race since 2001 – and just the second since the program joined Division I. Eller and Corona finished third and fourth, respectively, in the regional meet, to earn a selection to the national meet. It will be the first selection to the NCAA Championships for Eller and the second for Corona, who earned a top-90 finish during his sophomore season.
It will be the second time this year that the trio has raced at E.P. ‘Tom' Sawyer State Park. Everson finished second out of 311 runners in the women's 6K at the prestigious Pre-National Invitational in mid-October, while Corona and Eller finished 12th and 22nd, respectively, in the men's 8K event.
In all, 31 teams were selected in each of the men's and women's championship races. The top two teams from each of the nine regional meets earned automatic berths to Louisville, while 13 additional squads were chosen by a selection process. The top four runners from each region that were not on an advancing team also qualified to the national meet.
