United States Air Force Academy Men's Cross Country

Laura Bowerman was named the head coach of the Air Force cross country team in the fall of 2022, following a successful seven-year stint at the University of New Mexico. Bowerman, who helped the Lobos to several national titles – including a pair of team championships, also oversees training for the women’s distance and middle distance runners during the track season. During her first season with the women’s distance program, Bowerman saw Halle Hamilton claim all-conference and all-region honors, while advancing to her first NCAA Cross Country Championship. The women, who finished sixth at the conference meet and added a top-10 finish at the regional championships during the cross country season, accounted for three of the program’s four all-conference honors during the track and field season. Her athletes made 14 improvements to the Academy’s Top 10, while three qualified to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The women’s distance success continued in 2023-24. Hamilton repeated her cross country trifecta of all-conference, all-region and NCAA qualification, while a second all-conference outing from Ally Peterson helped the women to a third-place finish at the MW Cross Country Championships. On the track, her runners accounted for four Air Force Top 5 performances during the indoor season and six more during the outdoor season – including a program-record in the 4x800-meter relay at Drake, while three Falcons qualified to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. During the 2024-25 season,

Mark Stanforth enters his 13th season as a volunteer coach for the Air Force cross country program. Stanforth, who retired from the Academy in the summer of ...

1 National Champion; 32 All-America Honors 8 Teams in the NCAA Cross Country Championships; 8 Individual NCAA Qualifiers 10 Appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships 96 Bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships; 18 Appearances at Final Site 43 Mountain West Champions 210 All-Conference Performances 8 Mountain West Team Titles 9 Mountain West Coach of the Year Awards 17 Air Force Distance Records; 98 Air Force Top 10 Distance Marks 9 Selections to the Air Force World Class Athlete Program Ryan Cole, a nine-time conference coach of the year, is in his third season as the Director of Air Force Track & Field and Cross Country. After spending the first eight years of his Academy tenure overseeing the Falcons’ highly successful distance program as the head cross country coach, Cole was promoted to Director in August 2022. In addition to overseeing the Falcons’ full program, Cole continues to coach the men’s distance and middle distance runners during the cross country and track seasons. Cole has led Air Force to eight-straight team appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including the women’s first-ever Division I team appearance at the start of the streak in 2016. The men have raced in six of the last seven national meets – headlined by a seventh-place finish in 2022, while the women finished within the top 10 (eighth) in 2019. He has coached nine All-Americans – Kyle Eller (2015), Hannah Everson (2015), Mickey Davey (2017), Jaci Smith (2018), Maria Mettler (2019), Ma