Air Force cross country teams win Armed Forces title

  • Published
  • By Maj. Belinda Petersen
  • Air Force Services Agency Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  The Air Force men's and women's cross country teams won the Armed Forces Cross Country Championship Feb. 13 at Plantes Ferry Sports Complex, Spokane Valley, Wash.

"This was the most talented men's and women's team I've been a part of in seven years," said Capt. Levi Severson, the team captain for the Air Force teams. "I was proud of how well everyone performed," .

The women's team title is determined by cross country displacement scoring of the team's top four runners. The four placement numbers are added and the team with the lowest total points wins.

The Air Force women's team won with a total of 21 points (1st, 5th, 7th and 8th place). The Army team came in second with 25 points, Marine Corps team came in third with 36 points, followed by Navy team with 61 points.

The men's team title is determined by cross country displacement scoring of the team's top five runners.

The Air Force men's team won with a total of 34 points (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th place). The Army team came in second with 39 points, the Navy team came in third with 52 points, followed by the Marine Corps team with 92 points.

"The Air Force teams were amazing, especially with the tough competition from the other services," said Steve Brown, the chief of Air Force sports at the Air Force Services Agency.

"2nd Lt. Caroline White finished first, beating two strong runners from the Army world class athlete program who came in second and third," Mr. Brown said.

"The Air Force men's team outran the Army (team), winning by a close five-point margin," Mr. Brown said.

Air Force women's 8 kilometer race finishers:

--Lieutenant White, from the 80th Operations Support Squadron, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, won the race with a time of 29:27, which is a pace of 5:55 minutes per mile.
--Maj. Brenda Schrank, from the 779th Medical Operations Squadron, Andrews AFB, Md., finished in fifth place with a time of 30:33, a pace of 6:09 minutes per mile.
--Capt. Elissa Ballas, from the 4th Medical Operations Squadron, Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., finished in seventh place with a time of 30:44, a pace of 6:11 minutes per mile.
--Senior Airman Angela Martell, from the 21st Dental Squadron, Peterson AFB, Colo., finished in eighth place with a time of 30:56, a pace of 6:13 minutes per mile.
--Maj. Jaymee Marty, from the 60th Civil Engineering Squadron, Travis AFB, Calif., finished in 12th place with a time of 31:59, a pace of 6:26 minutes per mile.

Air Force men's 12 kilometer race finishers:
--2nd Lt. Matthew Williams, an Air Force Institute of Technology student at University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., finished in third place with a time of 37:08, a pace of 4:59 minutes per mile.
--2nd Lt. Sean Houseworth, from the 30th Civil Engineering Squadron, Vandenberg, Calif., finished in fifth place with a time of 37:37, a pace of 5:03 minutes per mile.
--Capt. Benjamin Payne, from the 19th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla., finished in seventh place with a time of 38:21, a pace of 5:08 minutes per mile.
--Captain Severson, from the Space and Missile Systems Center, Boulder, Colo., finished in ninth place with a time of 38:36, a pace of 5:10 minutes per mile.
--Capt. Jason Schlarb, from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, Detachment 105, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo., finished in 10th place with a time of 38:53, a pace of 5:13 minutes per mile.
--Capt. Brian Dumm, from U.S. African Command, Royal Air Force Molesworth, England, finished in 14th place with a time of 40:00, a pace of 5:22 minutes per mile.

The top five women and 12 men, including Lieutenant White, Major Schrank, Lieutenant Williams, Lieutenant Houseworth, Captain Payne, Captain Severson, and Captain Schlarb, earned spots on the combined Armed Forces Cross Country Team and will represent the United States at the 2010 Conseil International du Sport Militaire Cross Country Championship in Belgium, Mar. 7 through 12.