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Air Force Men Capture MWC Cross Country Championship
School's first MWC title in any sport
Nov. 1, 2003
Complete Men's Results in PDF Format
Complete Women's Results in PDF Format The Air Force men's cross country team ended BYU's string of six consecutive conference championships Saturday by winning its first Mountain West Conference title in Albuquerque, N.M. The Falcons won the meet with 37 points, four less than second-place BYU, and claimed the school's first MWC team championship. "It's always fun to win," said Air Force head coach Mark Stanforth. "We're happy with what we did, and now we're looking forward to regionals and nationals. We've had a really good year, but this is the farthest apart we've been (time between first and fifth runner), so we need to tighten it up again." Air Force, the last team other than BYU to capture a conference championship (the 1996 WAC title), had all five of its runners finish in the top 12. Leading the way was senior Ben Payne, who finished second overall in the 8K race with a time of 24:31. He finished 15 seconds behind the race winner, Kip Kangogo of BYU. "Ben ran very well today," said Stanforth. "He led the way for most of the race. It came down to three guys with about 2,000-meters to go, then Kangogo just pulled away." Junior Brian Dumm and sophomore Mark Walter also placed in the top 10 for Air Force. Dumm finished fifth with a time of 24:52, while Walter was seventh in 25:02. Junior Abe Wengel (25:16) and senior Chris Acs (25:21) finished 11th and 12th, respectively. Payne, Dumm and Walter earned first-team all-MWC honors for placing in the top 10. Wengle and Acs were named to the second-team, while Stanforth earned MWC men's coach of the year honors. In the women's 6K race, sophomore Lindsay Grose led the Falcons to their fifth consecutive third-place finish with a time of 22:55, good for 15th place. Air Force scored 106 points, finishing behind BYU (19 points) and Colorado State (62). Senior Anne Chumlea finished 20th with a time of 23:12, followed by sophomore Vivian Aspden (22nd, 23:17) and freshmen Ashley Culp (24th, 23:20) and Ashley Snyder (25th, 23:22). "Our women had a real solid race today," said Stanforth. "All of our runners performed well, which is nothing different than the rest of the season." Stanforth received his fourth Coach of the Year honor, his second in the Mountain West (1999) and two from the Western Athletic Conference (1994, 1996). Five is the most all-conference winners this team has had in the Mountain West. The Falcons return home for a triangular meet next Saturday, Nov. 8. Joining Air Force will be the University of Colorado and Northern Colorado. The NCAA Mountain Region Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 15 in Ogden, Utah. 2003 Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships
Men's Team Results Men's All-Conference Teams
First Team
Second Team
Men's Award Winners
Runner of the Year
Freshman of the Year
Coach of the Year
Women's Team Results
Women's All-Conference Teams
First Team
Second Team
Women's Award Winners
Runner of the Year
Freshman of the Year
Coach of the Year
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