Ella Johnson Wins AFXC Classic for Second-Straight Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Air Force cross country team kicked off the 2026 season this morning (Sept 4), hosting the annual AFXC Classic in Colorado Springs. With a first-place finish in the women's race, senior Ella Johnson became just the fourth Falcon to claim back-to-back titles in a meet that dates back to 1992.

Crossing the finish line of the three-mile course in a time of 16:52, Johnson won the home opener for the second time in as many years and matched the program-record time she set at last year's meet. Backed by Johnson's win, the seniors accounted for Air Force's top six times. Anna Haden finished second in 17:19, while Liliane Aittama and Scarlet Fetterolf finished third (17:22) and fourth (17:32), respectively, while Cam Bodine finished fifth in 17:44 and Rachel Fereday rounded out the Class of 2027 with an 18:04 finish.

Following a five-mile trek through MVP, sophomore Bryce Denton, senior Dominykas Remeikis and junior Saketh Rudraraju led the men with matching finishes of 25:23. Sophomore Josh Shriver finished fourth with a time of 25:41, while classmate Auge Martin rounded out the Falcons' top five with a 25.51 finish.

"Today was a positive start for both our women and men," Ryan Cole, Air Force's director of track & field and cross country, said. "We had one of our deeper groups on the women's side, led by veterans Ella Johnson and Anna Harden, but also had a very tight pack together to round out the varsity group. On the men's side, Saketh Rudraraju and Dom Remeikis led the group, but Bryce Denton had a breakout run that has been building for awhile. We'll add a few more of our varsity guys into the mix later in the month, but our staff felt very encouraged by today."

The Falcons return to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, when the squad splits for a pair of meets. While part of the team will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for John McNichols Invitational, the rest of the squad will race at Nebraska's Woody Greeno / Jay Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln.

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