Air Force Academy
CSU Invitational
Hannah Everson and AF Men Win at CSU Invitational
9/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Highlighted by an individual victory from senior Hannah Everson and a first-place team finish by the men's squad, the Air Force cross country team kicked off the 2015 season this evening (Sept. 4) at the CSU Invitational in Fort Collins.
Everson clocked a time of 17:32 to win the women's 5K race, bettering the rest of the 100-runner field by five seconds. Air Force placed two within the top five of the Division I field, as sophomore Carina Gillespie finished fourth with a time of 17:41. Classmate Katie Burnham and junior Samantha Skold finished 13th (18:04) and 14th (18:10), respectively, while junior Lindy Long rounded out the Falcons' scoring runners with a time of 18:18 to finish 16th.
The Falcons combined for 48 points to place second in the meet's Division I field. Colorado won the women's race with 38 points, while Air Force finished just 10 points behind. Colorado State finished third with 58 points, while Wyoming (76) and Northern Colorado (131) completed the DI standings.
Sophomore Andrew Johnston, junior Kyle Eller and senior Patrick Corona paced Air Force to the men's Division I team title, as the trio clocked matching marks of 15:04 to place fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Division I field. The Falcons added a fourth runner within the top nine, as junior Matt Dorsey crossed the finish line in 15:08 to place ninth. Senior Daniel Shellhouse rounded out the men's scoring runners, as he placed 17th with a time of 15:22.
Air Force accounted for 44 points to claim the men's DI title, while Colorado State (51) and Colorado (53) finished second and third, respectively. Wyoming finished fourth with 74 points and Northern Colorado rounded out the field with 145 points.
"I thought both teams had a solid start to the season," head coach Ryan Cole said. "For the women, Hannah cruised to a win and I look forward to her beginning to race in October. Our pack runners did a strong job and it was great to see some people have their training begin to correlate into racing, like Lindy, Sam, Katie and Giulianna. On the men's side, our top guys grouped up and had a good workout, using the 5K as the first phase of the season. I was also pleased to see some of the young guys compete well, like Jacob Bilvado, Andrew Milliron and Trevor Siniscalchi."
Several other runners completed the 5K course around Hughes Stadium this afternoon during the first race of the 2015 season.
Sophomore Giulianna Vessa finished 26th in the overall field with a time of 18:27, while senior Anna Olesinski clocked a time of 19:09 to finish 50th. Freshmen Hillary Kiele (68th, 19:41), Shanna Burns (79th, 20:09) and Rachel Russel (81st, 20:11) rounded out the contingent of Air Force runners in the women's race.
On the men's side, senior Dan Caddigan finished 20th in the overall standings with a time of 15:22. Classmates Sean Bapty and Grant Caswell finished 26th (15:27) and 27th (15:30), respectively, while freshman Jacob Bilvado (29th, 15:31) and sophomore Andrew Milliron (30th, 15:35) added top-30 finishes. Junior Jason Engel and freshman Trevor Siniscalchi finished 32nd (15:36) and 35th (15:39), respectively, while freshmen Mickey Davey (40th, 15:48) and Andrew Tankersley (45th, 15:51) joined sophomore Forest Isenhour (46th, 15:51) in the top half of the full field.
Freshman Noah Riley clocked in at 16:00 flat to finish 58th, while classmate John Quinn and sophomore Jimmy Shipley recorded back-to-back finishes (62nd, 63rd) behind matching times of 16:03. Freshmen Nathan Thomas (70th, 16:12), Parker Seale (75th, 16:21), Nikolai Rhodes (78th, 16:23), Nic Cheuvront (96th, 16:59) and Gordon Kowalkowski (97th, 17:00) rounded out the Falcons' list of runners in the season-opener.
The Falcons return to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, when they travel to Lincoln, Neb., for the annual Woody Greeno Invitational at Pioneers Park.
Players Mentioned
