Women To Conclude Season At Conference Championship
5/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field Managers
May 15, 2001
Air Force concludes its outdoor season this week with the Mountain West Conference championships at San Diego State University. Competition begins Wednesday with the decathlon and heptathlon and concludes on Saturday.
Track coach Ralph Lindeman believes his men's team has a very good chance to finish second behind perennial winner Brigham Young University.
"It's going to be a dog fight between us and Colorado State," said Lindeman. "We were just two and-a-half points behind them for second place during the indoor championships. I really feel that we are stronger than they are in the outdoor competition."
Kurt Duffy, Tom Clark and Nick Herald can get Air Force off to a good start in the decathlon, which concludes Thursday. Lindeman said he thinks the trio can gain 15 points by finishing third, fourth and fifth. Air Force's lone entry in the women's heptathlon is Brittany Edmonds who finished eighth in the indoor heptathlon.
Shane Rogers is the Falcons' lone defending champion. He won the steeplechase last year in Provo, UT and has the fastest time in the conference coming into the meet this weekend.
Lindeman said he believes Anthony Park could win both the triple jump and long jump. He comes into the meet as the favorite in the triple and is ranked second in the league in the long jump.
Several Falcons are expected by Lindeman to finish among the top three in their event. They include Brian Carpenter in the 1,500-meters, Clark in the 400-meter hurdles, Marc Fulson in the 110-meter hurdles, Ben Gensic in the pole vault, Shawn Johnson in both the discus and shot, Joe Monaco in the 10,000-meters and 5,000-meters, and Jamie Flood in the 5,000-meters.
Lindeman says Johnson has had an outstanding career here in the throwing events and "I hope he can finish his last competition setting another school record in either the discus or the shot."
Monaco is the indoor champion in the 5,000-meters and Lindeman believes he has an excellent chance of capturing the title in the 10,000.
Ana Maria Ortega, who broke her own school record in the pole vault in last Friday's Air Force Twilight with a vault of 12-feet, 1/2-inch, is also expected to challenge for an individual title.
