Air Force Women Achieve Third Straight Top Three MWC Finish

Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships

Cross Country Home HEADLINES BYU's Ed Eyestone Named USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men's Coach of the Year MWC to Send Four Teams, Three Individuals to 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships MWC Names Men's Cross Country Co-Freshmen of the Year RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college cross country action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

Oct. 28, 2001

On October 27, the Air Force women's cross country team placed third in the Mountain West Conference championships. Although the Falcons were disappointed that the team did not finish higher individually, it has the distinction of being the only women's team in Academy history to have three straight top-three conference finishes since going Division I.

Air Force finished second with 113 points followed by Utah (124), New Mexico (139), Wyoming (168), SDSU (117) and UNLV (214). Brigham Young (17) and Colorado State (45) took first and second place, respectively.

Air Force runner Brandess Pardue was the Falcons' leader with a time of 22:17. Pardue missed all-conference by three places, finishing 17th. Only the top 14 runners earn all-conference. Pardue's time is a career best and 58 seconds faster than last year's MWC time. Had she made all-MWC she would have been only the second women's cross country runner in school history to earn the honor. A sophomore (C3C), she still has two more chances to achieve that goal.

Junior (C2C) Elissa Ballas was the second Falcon runner to finish in the women's 6000 meters. Ballas was disappointed about finishing 22nd with a time of 22:49, which is where she finished last year in the MWC. However, she, too, will have another chance at the conference in 2002.

Jean Taylor, a sophomore, who ran with an injury suffered in September, finished 26th with at time of 23:02. Team captain Lara Coppinger finished 30th with a time of 23:19. A senior (C1C), this was Coppinger's last chance at the conference, however, she is expected to run in the Mountain Region Championships in November.

Sophomore runner Anne Chumlea, from Enon, Ohio finished 33rd with a time of 23:25. Two other runners, C3Cs Kelly McPherson (23:38) and Stephanie Cornell (24:47) finished 37th and 48th, respectively. The Falcons' only two freshmen (C4Cs), Cindy Dawson and Mary Uhler finished 38th and 39th, respectively. Dawson had a time of 23:43. Uhler from Easton, Penn., who never competed before joining the cross country team, finished with a time of 23:51 in her first championship race.

The Falcons are now focusing their sites on the Mountain Region Championships in Provo, Utah on Nov. 11.