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Air Force Men's Cross Country will Rely on Youth in '99 Falcons finished second at last year's conference championships.
Aug. 24, 1999 The Falcons have experienced many changes in the long history of Air Force athletics and especially in men's cross country. This fall one of those changes will be the new Mountain West Conference. Although Air Force is no stranger to the schools competing in the new conference old rivalries are sure to be kindled. Participating in the MWC is last year's WAC cross country champion Brigham Young along with Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah, Wyoming and UNLV. The other change this fall is that of Captain Heidi McKenna who replaces Captain Suzanne Henke as assistant coach. This change will mostly affect the Falcons' women's team however. Next, the men's team lost nine cadets to graduation and only Jim Nelson (all-WAC) and Joe Monaco will return from last year's top seven runners. It will be up to the remaining pack to foster the teamwork necessary to whip the new group of athletes into a better team than last year's second-place WAC finishers. Head coach Mark Stanforth believes that his '99 Falcons have more talent than last year's team, but that the talent is just not developed yet. Ryan O'Hara and Patrick Shanahan are veterans who will be counted on to step up and fill some of the holes left by graduation. "Both O'Hara and Shanahan made great strides last fall," said Stanforth. The return of Shane Rogers, NCAA steeplechase qualifier in 1997, will provide a boost for the Falcons. Rogers returns from a two-year religious mission. Stanforth also has a good crop of cadets third class (sophomores) in Dave Romero, Zach Richter and Albert Kelly, the three he considers having the best chance of being ready to excel this fall. Romero ran 27:34 and finished 49th in the Iona Meet of Champions in'98. Kelly and Richter both competed in the Ft. Hays Invitational with each achieving a season-best performance, 36th (26:56) and 38th (27:04), respectively. Brian Carpenter and Joe Lopez both ran very well last spring, however they are middle distance runners who need to exhibit their ability to compete at the 8,000 and 10,000-meter distances. But according to Stanforth, "You can't really tell until you've had a chance to work with a group of athletes for a while, but on paper, the incoming class of 2003 is the best group of newcomers that I've recruited in my seven years at Air Force." Stanforth never counts on the new class to help the first fall. But, the newcomers with the best chance to help the Falcons in the MWC are Jim Blech, from Tempe, Ariz., with his best times of 4:18 and 9:34 and Scott Ellwanger from Omaha, Neb., with times of 4:20 and 9:39. Perry Griffith is from Painesville, Ohio and his best times are 4:17 and 9:21. Kyle Robinson, a native of Albuquerque, N.M., had a time of 4:27a. Other newcomers include two USAFA Prep School recruits, Adam Greene from Poway, Calif., with a time of 4:18 and Jason Sanders, from Dayton, Ohio, who ran 1:54 and 4:24. "Several of these guys are middle distance types so the 8K will be a little long at first," said Stanforth. Stanforth on the MWC: The Falcons will compete against fewer teams in the MWC and as always BYU has the most talented runners. It's no surprise that BYU's men's and women's cross country teams are expected to be the championship favorites again this season. "Utah, runners-up in 1997 and fourth in 1998, returns all but their top runner and they will be very competitive. Colorado State also returns most of their team." "Based on returnees, both of those teams are ahead of us, however, that was the case last year and we were able to finish second," said Stanforth. The way Stanforth sees it, "It's the same as virtually every year, if everything goes our way-proper work over the summer, no injuries, race very well when it counts, BYU doesn't have a "super" year-we can challenge for the first Mountain West Conference championship." "If things don't go our way, we could be fourth." Stanforth's goal every year is to be in the top three and if the Falcons do that, their turn will come up with some consistency to win the conference championship. The Falcons have a nine year streak of top three finishes going for them and it will be very disappointing to not be able to say that they were in the top three every year in the '90s.
"It would be very nice to be able to say that we had four championships in the '90s," said Stanforth. So bring on the changes, the 1999 Air Force Falcons are getting ready to rumble!
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