Air Force Trio Heads to NCAA Championships
11/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
FalconVision: Coach Cole Interview
The 2015 cross country season comes to a close this weekend, as senior Patrick Corona, junior Kyle Eller and senior Hannah Everson travel to Louisville, Ky., for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The trio, who earned automatic bids into the national meet after top-four finishes at last week's regional, will run on Saturday, Nov. 21.
Meet Notes 07: at NCAA Championships 
MEET INFORMATION
The 2015 NCAA Championships will take place throughout E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville. The women's 6K final will kick off the day at noon (ET), while the men's 10K championship will get underway at 1:00 p.m. A live webcast of the national championship meet will be streamed via NCAA.com.
HOW THEY GOT THERE
All three Falcons automatically qualified to the national championship meet after finishing within the top four of their respective races at the NCAA Mountain Regional. Hannah Everson won the women's 6K race, while Kyle Eller and Patrick Corona finished third and fourth, respectively, in the men's 10K race.
WHO'S WHO
A total of 31 teams were selected to participate in both the men's and women's championship races. The top two teams from each of the nine regions earned an automatic bid into the national meet, while an additional 13 teams were selected at-large. Thirty-eight individuals were selected to participate in each championship race through an automatic and at-large selection process after finishing within the top 25 of the top 25 of their region.
THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR
Air Force has already raced the course at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park once this season, when it competed in the Pre-National Invitational on Oct. 17. Hannah Everson finished second out of 311 runners in the women's 6K event, while Patrick Corona and Kyle Eller finished 12th and 22nd, respectively, in the men's 8K race that featured 288 runners.
FACTS AND FIGURES
The men have represented the Academy a total of 27 times at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, sending a full team 14 times and being represented by individual runners at an additional 13 meets.¬ The men's history book boasts six top-10 team finishes, the 1968 national champion (Mike Ryan) and the top American finisher (Eric Mack, third overall) in 1995. The women have sent just one runner to the Division I championships (Brandess Pardue, 2001), although the Falcons were longtime participants at the NCAA Division II Championships.
FALCONS FINISH SEASON RANKED 29TH IN NATIONAL POLL
The men wrapped up the 2015 season ranked 29th in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll. It is the second time in three years that Air Force has been listed in the national rankings during the seasons' final poll.
EVERSON NAMED MOUNTAIN REGION ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Following a first-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 13, Hannah Everson was selected as the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Female Athlete of the Year on Nov. 17, marking the first regional cross country accolade has been awarded to a member of the Air Force program. The senior bettered a women's field of 127 runners – including members of the nation's top two teams – by more than 10 seconds (20:45.42) to win the regional title and secure an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships.
FOUR FALCONS EARN ALL-REGION HONORS
A quartet of Air Force runners earned all-region accolades following strong performances at the NCAA Mountain Regional on Nov. 13. The women claimed multiple all-region honors for the first time in program history, as Hannah Everson (first) and Carina Gillespie (21st) finished within the top 25. The men also received a pair of all-region performances, as Kyle Eller and Patrick Corona finished third and fourth, respectively. The four all-region selections are tied (2003) for the most honorees in a single meet in Academy history.
THE NEXT COURSE
Although the cross country season will come to a close this weekend, the Falcons return to action next month with the start of the indoor track and field season. Air Force will host its annual Holiday Open on Friday, Dec. 11, at the Cadet Field House Indoor Track.
Players Mentioned
