Friday, November 14
Salt Lake City, UT
10:30 am MT
Air Force Academy
at
NCAA Mountain Regional
Photo by: C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos
Jayden Nats Finishes Third at NCAA Mountain Regional
11/14/2025 2:23:00 PM | Cross Country
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Three members of the Air Force cross country team captured all-region honors this morning (Nov. 14), as the Falcons had a strong outing at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Salt Lake City. A third-place finish from senior Jayden Nats led the 28th-ranked men to a fifth-place finish in a regional field that included four NCAA Top 10 teams, while senior India Jones and junior Ella Johnson used top-12 finishes to guide the women to a sixth-place finish in another stacked field.
In the men's first 10K of the year, Nats clocked a career-best time of 30:08.2 to finish third in the 122-runner event – a finish that interrupted a near-sweep of runners from third-ranked New Mexico and matched the Falcons' highest finish ever at the regional championship (Kyle Eller, 2015). Advancing nine spots over the final kilometer, Nats made the largest move in the final split of any runner in the men's field.
The remaining members of the men's scoring lineup all finished within the top 35. Fellow senior Zach Ayers placed 26th with a time of 30:57.1, while sophomore Saketh Rudraraju finished 29th in 31:03.9 and the duo of junior Patrick Lawson and sophomore Matthew Edwards placed 34th (31:10.5, debut) and 35th (31:11.2), respectively. Two other Falcons made their first regional 10K on Friday, with sophomore Junior Allen finishing 37th in a time of 31:14.2 and junior Dominykas Remeikis placing 58th in 32:10.3.
As a team, the men – ranked 28th in the national standings – tallied 127 points to finish fifth in the 19-team race, only trailing a quartet of NCAA Top 10 teams (No. 3 New Mexico, No. 10 BYU, No. 8 Northern Arizona, No. 6 Colorado). The finish marks the program's fourth top five finish in the last five years.
Like Nats, Jones and Johnson both moved up nine spots over the final kilometer – working together to finish 11th (20:42.2) and 12th (20:42.4), respectively, in a field of 123, with Jones' finish serving as the best by an Air Force runner since 2019. The pair, who made the largest moves of anyone in the top 40, marked the sixth time since 2015 that Air Force had accounted for multiple all-region (top 25) performances.
All seven runners in the Falcons' contingent improved their placement during the final split. Senior Ricky Fetterolf moved up nine spots to finish 45th in the field behind a time of 21:44.1, while juniors Anna Harden and Scarlet Fetterolf rounded out the squad's scoring lineup in 57th (22:07.0, +4) and 74th (22:31.3, +11), respectively. Sophomore Carrigan Eberly posted a time of 23:06.4 to finish 94th in her regional debut, while junior Liliane Aittama completed the Falcons' lineup with a 95th-place time of 23:06.7.
With 198 points, the women finished sixth out of 19 teams to post their best regional finish since 2019 and account for the highest finish by a team not ranked in the nation's Top 25 (No. 8 New Mexico, No. 1 BYU, No 21 Northern Arizona, No. 17 Colorado, No. 22 Utah).
The 2025 cross country season comes to a close at the NCAA Championships next Saturday (Nov. 22) in Columbia, Missouri. The final team and individual qualifiers will be announced tomorrow (Nov. 15) during the NCAA Selection Show at 5:00 p.m. (ET) on NCAA.com.
DIRECTOR OF AIR FORCE TRACK & FIELD AND CROSS COUNTRY RYAN COLE
"Both groups competed really well today, particularly over the final stages of the race. Our women went from 9th to 6th in the last 2k and our men ran a very patient, poised race.
Individually, India Jones and Ella Johnson worked together extremely well, just like they did at our conference meet. Both should individually qualify for the NCAA Championships, which puts them in pretty rare company in the history of our program.
On the men's side, Jayden Nats had the breakout race we knew he could have. Behind him, our group worked well together, as they have all year – it was truly a team effort and the guys should be in strong contention to advance to the NCAA Championship next weekend."
In the men's first 10K of the year, Nats clocked a career-best time of 30:08.2 to finish third in the 122-runner event – a finish that interrupted a near-sweep of runners from third-ranked New Mexico and matched the Falcons' highest finish ever at the regional championship (Kyle Eller, 2015). Advancing nine spots over the final kilometer, Nats made the largest move in the final split of any runner in the men's field.
The remaining members of the men's scoring lineup all finished within the top 35. Fellow senior Zach Ayers placed 26th with a time of 30:57.1, while sophomore Saketh Rudraraju finished 29th in 31:03.9 and the duo of junior Patrick Lawson and sophomore Matthew Edwards placed 34th (31:10.5, debut) and 35th (31:11.2), respectively. Two other Falcons made their first regional 10K on Friday, with sophomore Junior Allen finishing 37th in a time of 31:14.2 and junior Dominykas Remeikis placing 58th in 32:10.3.
As a team, the men – ranked 28th in the national standings – tallied 127 points to finish fifth in the 19-team race, only trailing a quartet of NCAA Top 10 teams (No. 3 New Mexico, No. 10 BYU, No. 8 Northern Arizona, No. 6 Colorado). The finish marks the program's fourth top five finish in the last five years.
Like Nats, Jones and Johnson both moved up nine spots over the final kilometer – working together to finish 11th (20:42.2) and 12th (20:42.4), respectively, in a field of 123, with Jones' finish serving as the best by an Air Force runner since 2019. The pair, who made the largest moves of anyone in the top 40, marked the sixth time since 2015 that Air Force had accounted for multiple all-region (top 25) performances.
All seven runners in the Falcons' contingent improved their placement during the final split. Senior Ricky Fetterolf moved up nine spots to finish 45th in the field behind a time of 21:44.1, while juniors Anna Harden and Scarlet Fetterolf rounded out the squad's scoring lineup in 57th (22:07.0, +4) and 74th (22:31.3, +11), respectively. Sophomore Carrigan Eberly posted a time of 23:06.4 to finish 94th in her regional debut, while junior Liliane Aittama completed the Falcons' lineup with a 95th-place time of 23:06.7.
With 198 points, the women finished sixth out of 19 teams to post their best regional finish since 2019 and account for the highest finish by a team not ranked in the nation's Top 25 (No. 8 New Mexico, No. 1 BYU, No 21 Northern Arizona, No. 17 Colorado, No. 22 Utah).
The 2025 cross country season comes to a close at the NCAA Championships next Saturday (Nov. 22) in Columbia, Missouri. The final team and individual qualifiers will be announced tomorrow (Nov. 15) during the NCAA Selection Show at 5:00 p.m. (ET) on NCAA.com.
DIRECTOR OF AIR FORCE TRACK & FIELD AND CROSS COUNTRY RYAN COLE
"Both groups competed really well today, particularly over the final stages of the race. Our women went from 9th to 6th in the last 2k and our men ran a very patient, poised race.
Individually, India Jones and Ella Johnson worked together extremely well, just like they did at our conference meet. Both should individually qualify for the NCAA Championships, which puts them in pretty rare company in the history of our program.
On the men's side, Jayden Nats had the breakout race we knew he could have. Behind him, our group worked well together, as they have all year – it was truly a team effort and the guys should be in strong contention to advance to the NCAA Championship next weekend."
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