Falcons Take on Nation’s Elite at Gans Creek Classic

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Air Force cross country team, which included the 24th-ranked men's squad, wrapped up competition against the nation's elite this morning (Sept. 26) at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri. The men finished 16th in the 31-team field, while the women placed 25th.

Senior Jayden Nats accounted for the fourth-fastest 8K in program history on Friday morning, as he completed the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in a time of 23:24.9 – finishing 53rd in the overall field. Junior Josh Razo and senior Tanner Lindahl placed within the top 100, as the pair finished 81st (23:38.3) and 99th (23:48.5), respectively. Junior Patrick Lawson clocked a time of 23:58.3 to finish 119th, while sophomore Saketh Rudraraju rounded out the team scoring with a 122nd-place time of 24:00.3. Senior Zach Ayers, sophomore Matthew Edwards, and junior Dominykas Remeikis also competed in the Gold Race, finishing 143rd (24:08.6), 170th (24:18.8) and 201st (24:43.8) respectively.

The men, who entered the meet ranked 24th in the national poll, accumulated 465 points to finish 16th in the 31-team raced that included nearly half of the nationally ranked teams. With that finish, Air Force finished ahead of one higher-ranked squad (No. 17 Eastern Kentucky) and 12 spots in front of its service academy counterparts from Navy.

On the women's side, junior Ella Johnson captured a top-35 finish to lead Air Force to a 25th-place finish in the team standings (591 points). Johnson recorded a time of 20:04.0 – the sixth-fastest 6K finish by a Falcon at the Division I level – to place 31st in the 237-runner field. Classmate Anna Harden finished 110th with a time of 20:56.7, while senior India Jones placed 127th with a 21:05.1 finish, while fellow senior Ricky Fetterolf and sophomore Carrigan Eberly rounded out the scoring lineup in 163rd (21:28.1) and 177th (21:36.6), respectively. Three other Falcons also competed in the Gold Race, with junior Carly Foster (203rd, 21:48.3), junior Rachel Fereday (210th, 22:08.1) and freshman Eleanor Raker (218th, 22:22.1) finishing within 15 spots of each other.

Three more Falcons competed in the Black Race, with sophomore Junior Allen leading the way with an 11th-place time of 23:54.2. Allen led the trio to three top 20 finishes in the 259-runner event, as senior Brenton Maddox and junior Benjamin Davenport placed 19th (24:04.7) and 20th (24:05.1), respectively.

"Today was our first big test of the season and both groups passed, with room for improvement," Ryan Cole, Air Force's director of track & field and cross country, said. "In the overflow race, our three men competed well, led by Junior Allen. In the women's varsity race, our team was surrounded by a lot of the top teams in the NCAA and we were solid. Ella Johnson had a good run and our women behind her can close the gap. In the men's varsity race, we had a group working well together and Jayden Nats ran a composed race in very humid conditions. But for both groups, the recurring themes were productive races but definite room for improvement. We know we can be better. But that doesn't take away from a solid day for both genders and we have a month for adjustments as we move toward the championship season."

Several members of the men's squad will race in Colorado Springs tomorrow (Sept. 27), as a contingent will represent the Academy at the Ted Castaneda Classic at Monument Valley Park.

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