Air Force Academy
MW Championships
Women Second, Men Third at MW Championships
10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
KUNA, Idaho -- The Air Force women's cross country team posted the highest conference finish in program history this morning (Oct. 28), as it placed second at the 2016 Mountain West Championships in Kuna, Idaho. The 28th-ranked men also had a strong showing at Falcon Crest Golf Club, finishing third in their conference race.
With the fourth-fastest 6K in Academy history, junior Carina Gillespie paced the women to half of the top-six finishes. The junior, who clocked a career-best time of 20:17.90 to finish third in the 88-runner event, matched the program's highest individual finish ever at the MW Championships. Senior Lindy Long and sophomore Jaci Smith joined Gillespie in the top-six -- marking the first time in program history that three Falcons have placed within the top 10. Long crossed the finish line in a season-best time of 20:34.10 to finish fifth -- a placement that equaled the program's second-highest individual finish ever at the MW Championships, while Smith clocked a career-best time of 20:36.80 (the ninth-fastest 6K time in Academy history) to finish sixth.
For the first time in program history, all five of Air Force's scoring runners finished within the top 25. Senior Samantha Skold posted a top-15 finish in her final conference meet, after placing 15th behind a season-best time of 21:08.50, and junior Katie Burnham rounded out Falcons' lineup of the scoring runners with a season-best time of 21:21.60 (24th).
The Falcons, who are receiving votes in the latest USTFCCCA Coaches Poll, registered 53 points to take second in the 11-team meet -- a tally just 11 points behind seventh-ranked New Mexico, who scored 42 points to claim its ninth straight MW team title. Boise State, ranked 28th in the national standings, finished third with 86 points, while Colorado State (fourth, 103) and Wyoming (fifth, 123) rounded out the top five. Utah State and Nevada finished sixth (148) and seventh (193), respectively, while San Jose State (eighth, 224), San Diego State (ninth, 261), Fresno State (10th, 276) and UNLV (11th, 309) completed the full team standings.
Individually, Air Force was one of just two schools to place multiple runners in the top 10.
"Our women had a great day," head coach Ryan Cole said. "Our top four ran so composed and Katie Burnham stepped up huge as our #5. It was so awesome to listen to the announcer as the first group of finishers started crossing the line and hearing `Air Force, Air Force, Air Force". To watch how far these women have come over the last few years has been pretty remarkable and is a great compliment to the leadership, commitment and determination of our women. But this wasn't our culminating moment in the season and the team knows that."
On the men's side, sophomore Jacob Bilvado paced Air Force to three of the top-seven finishes. Bilvado clocked a career-best time of 24:12.60 to finish fifth in the 66-runner event, while junior Andrew Johnston and senior Matt Dorsey used season-best times to finish sixth (24:13.20) and seventh (24:13.70), respectively. All five of the Falcons' scoring runners finished within the top 25, as senior Kyle Eller placed 19th with a season-best time of 24:38.90 and sophomore Nathan Thomas took 23rd with a career-best time of 24:48.70.
Air Force tallied 61 points to finish third, trailing only No. 24 Boise State (first, 41) and No. 17 Colorado State (second, 48). Utah State scored 141 points to finish fourth in the team standings, as it edged New Mexico (fifth, 138) by seven points. Another seven points separated Wyoming (sixth, 162) and San Jose State (seventh, 169), while Fresno State rounded out the team standings in eighth (244).
"Our top three scorers executed really well today," Cole added. "To have three guys as first-team all-conference is something our program has only done once before, and that was a pretty special team in 2003. Our next group just ran too conservatively in the first half of the race, which is correctable. We'll make a few minor revisions in our race plan heading into regionals, but we have a talented, fit and highly competitive team. The guys will be ready to go."
Eight additional Falcons also competed in their respective races at Falcon Crest Golf Club this morning.
Freshman Lindsey Blanks clocked a career-best 6K time of 22:03.50 to finish 47th in the overall women's standings, while sophomore Shanna Burns posted a personal-best time of 22:32.10 to finish 61st. Junior Giulianna Vessa, competing in her first race of the season, finished just one spot back (62nd, 22:33.60), while freshman Swathi Samuel clocked a time of 23:25.10 in her first collegiate 6K event to finish 75th.
Juniors Jimmy Shipley and Andrew Milliron accounted for placements within the top half of the men's 8K field, as Shipley finished 25th with a career-best time of 24:50.00 and Milliron placed 29th with a season-best 25:02.30. Sophomore Andrew Tankersley finished 39th with a time of 25:16.90, while sophomore Noah Riley posted a personal-best time of 25:24.00 to finish 44th in his first 8K of the year.
The Falcons return to action on Friday, Nov. 11, when they travel to Logan, Utah, for the 2016 NCAA Mountain Region Championships.
Players Mentioned
