Falcon Men Finish Third At MWC Indoor Championships
3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 1, 2003
Who is that guy?
That was the question runners were asking during the men's 800-meters at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships hosted by the Academy in the Cadet Field House Saturday.
Answer: Junior Bryant Bevan from Langhorne, PA.
Bevan set a new conference meet record in the event with a career-best time of 1:52.46. "Bryant Bevan was a huge surprise was to the coaching staff and I am sure to the rest of the competitors in the 800," said head coach Ralph Lindeman. "Bryantwas the seventh best guy coming into the meet and he walks away with the title."
Air Force men finished third in this championship meet while the women finished eighth. Brigham Young, which lost the men's title to Colorado State a year ago, re-captured it this year with 190 points to CSU's 176. Air Force's 135 was better than Wyoming (80), New Mexico (49) and Utah (26).
The BYU women continued their conference unbeaten string with a commanding 179.50 points. San Diego State was a distant second with 119 followed by Colorado State (115), Wyoming (78), Utah (58), New Mexico (49.50), UNLV (37) and Air Force (25).
The third place finish by the Air Force men and last place finish by the women were not a disappointment to Lindeman.
"I think this was our best conference championship since 1995. Because we had a number of conference champions and a number of kids who competed extremely well throughout this championship event," said Lindeman.
Lindeman was quick to point out the performance in the men's 60-meter hurdles where Lewis-Palmer graduates Sean Temple and Tom Clark finshed first and second, respectively. Temple's winning time of 7.91 set a new meet record and was just one-hundreth of a second off the all-time record of 7.90 which he set earlier this year. The Falcons captured 27 points in the event with Clark's finish (8.06) and a fourth place finish by Luke Marker (8.08) and a fifth place finish by Jim Campbell (8.19).
Other Air Force highlights included:
--Temple came back in the 400-meter run with a third place finish with a season-best time of 49.30.
-- Anthony Park posted a season-best mark of 49-feet, 7-inches in the triple jump to finish third. Teammate Chris Banks picked up a fifth-place finish with a lead of 48-feet, 3 ?-inches.
-- Nick Bromberek, a junior, posted a career-best time of 21.83 in the 200-meters to finish third.
-- The Falcons picked up 11 points in the pole vault as Makisi Haleck finished fourth (16-feet, 8 ?-inches), Paul Goossen finished fifth (16-feet, 8 ?-inches) and Christian Morgan finished seventh (16-feet, 2 ?-inches).
--LaTravia Robinson had the tieing mark in the women's triple jump (39-feet, 1 ?-inches), but placed second on the basis of her second jumps
--Elissa Ballas finished fifth (5:13.81) and Kelly McPherson eighth (5:23.57) in the mile run to pick up five points.
Other Meet Highlights Included:
--BYU junior Micheala Mannova (Dvur Kralov, Czech Republic) set a new Mountain West Conference Championships record in the women's mile with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:50.83. The previous record was 4:55.49 by Katie Yemm (Colorado State) set in 2002. Yemm, the winner of the event a year ago, finished second Saturday in an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 4:52.03.
--Wyoming sophomore Jessica Fox (Burns, Wyo.) set a new Mountain West Conference Championships record in the women's 400-meter dash with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 53.07. The previous record was 53.32 by Michele Davis (UNLV) set in 2002. Her time also ties the Cadet Field House record (Tonya Buford-Bailey {Nike}, 1996).
--San Diego State junior Tonette Dyer (Shreveport, La.) set a new SDSU record in the women's 60-meter dash with a time of 7.42. The previous record was 7.48 by Promise Mose in 2000.
--Colorado State sophomore Jake Simpson (Littleton, Colo.) won the men's 60-meter dash title by just hundredths of a second over Wyoming senior Mervin Swaby (Kingston, Jamaica). Simpson's winning time was 6.892 while Swaby boasted a time of 6.897.
--BYU senior Jeremy Kemp (Farmington, Utah) claimed his second men's pole vault title in three years with a height of 17' 7". The Cougars finished first, second and third in the event (senior Jeremy Kemp, 17' 7"; sophomore Trent Powell, 17' 7"; and junior Erik Rasmussen, 17' 2 ?"). The tie for first place was broken by a flip of a coin, as both BYU student-athletes did not wish to continue to break the tie.
MWC Indoor Track & Field Championships Individual Awards
--Female High Point Award: Keren Bentzur, New Mexico (30)
--Male High Point Award: Mervin Swaby, Wyoming (26)
--Female Outstanding Performance Award: Loree Smith, Colorado State
--Male Outstanding Performance Award: Kip Kangogo, BYU
--Female Freshman of the Year: Shanon Meyer, San Diego
--Female Coach of the Year: R. Craig Poole, BYU
--Male Coach of the Year: Del Hessel ,Colorado State
