Men Take Second at Greeno/Dirksen Invitational

LINCOLN, Neb – With all five scoring runners placing within the top 20, a relatively young contingent of the Air Force men's cross country team captured a second-place finish at the 31st Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational this morning (Sept. 18) in Nebraska. The Falcons combined for 77 points to earn the team's best finish at that meet against their Division I counterparts since 2016.

Sophomore Jett Knight, competing in his first collegiate race outside of the season-opening intrasquad meet, clocked an 8K debut of 24:34.63, to finish seventh out of 70 runners in the NCAA Division I Red Race – and 12th in the full 237-runner field that encompassed all levels of collegiate racing.

Classmate Connor Ohlson, who missed last season's shortened schedule with injury, posted a time of 25:10.29 to finish 17th in the Red Race standings (30th overall) and lead a quartet of Falcons to four-straight finishes and a spread of under 11 seconds. Freshmen Bryce Lentz and Walter Sellers finished 17th (25:12.36) and 18th (25:13.58), respectively, in the Division I field (31st, 32nd overall), while senior Joseph Wittig – the most experienced of the Falcons' lineup with six collegiate races under his belt – rounded out the scoring lineup with a 20th-place time of 25:20.75 (33rd overall).

Junior Ben Leicht, competing in his first collegiate race outside the state of Colorado, was right behind the scoring lineup, finishing 22nd with a time of 25:25.71 (35th) and freshman Jason Renze rounded out the men's list of finishers with a 45th-place time of 26:20.87.

Wichita State won the Division I event with 27 points, while Air Force (77) and Iowa (87) rounded out the top three and separated themselves from the rest of the field. Nebraska, the meet's co-host, finished fourth with 106 points, while teams from Creighton (fifth, 120), South Dakota (sixth, 131) and Northern Colorado (seventh, 201) completed the DI field,

While just three members of the women's team ran the 5K circuit at Mahoney Golf Course, Air Force placed two within the top 15 of the Division I field (Red Race). Freshman Ally Peterson clocked a time of 17:39.1 to finish fifth out of 86 DI runners – and sixth in the full 212-runner field, while classmate Sydney Weaber posted a time of 17:57.7 to finish 14th in the Red Race – and 16th overall. Those are the two fastest 5K times by any Air Force runner at Nebraska's annual meet.

"This was a productive meet for the group that competed," head coach Ryan Cole said. "We had two freshmen girls run well in their first significant college meet – including Ally Peterson placing in the top 10 – while Jett Knight had a strong run, leading a group of guys that continue to build into the season."

Air Force has a quick turnaround on the schedule, as another group of runners head to Springfield, Ore., on Thursday (Sept. 23) for the annual Bill Dellinger Invitational at Pine Ridge Golf Course.

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