2004 Outdoor Season Review

The Air Force track and field program followed up its indoor season with a stellar outdoor campaign. Nine more Academy records fell, while four Falcons were crowned champions at the conference meet and two received NCAA All-America accolades.
The men took third at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships, while the women placed seventh. Ben Payne successfully defended his 10,000-meter title for the third straight year, while Sean Temple led another 1-2-3 sweep of the 110-meter hurdles for his second conference crown of the year. With the long jump title, Anthony Park also picked up his second MWC championship of the year and tied with Temple and Payne for the second-most career conference titles in Academy history (four). Dana Pounds blasted past MWC foes for her first conference title and the team's second female champion in as many years.
Of the 22 cadet-athletes that qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships, Paul Gensic and Pounds advanced to the national meet. Gensic recorded a fourth-place finish in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships to become the first Falcon since Jennifer Kornacker at the Division II Championships in 1993 to earn All-America honors in the same event during both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Pounds made Academy history at the meet, by finishing fifth in the javelin and becoming the program's first-ever female NCAA Division I All-American. During her amazing season - just her second of competitive javelin throwing - Pounds became the Academy's first Drake Relays Champion since 1976 and threw the longest women's javelin at the event in 18 years. She also qualified for the Olympic Trials, finishing sixth.
Another highlight of the season was the nine program records that fell during the season - six men's records and three women's. That total is more than double of the records set during the 2003 season.
Payne broke his own record in the 10,000-meter run, clocking a time of 29:25.34. Paul Gensic tallied the best pole vault height in program history, with a height of 18'0?", while Chris Banks recorded a distance of 51'1?" in the triple jump.
Temple set the Academy's 110-meter hurdle record with a time of 13.80, while also teaming up with Luke Marker, Jim Campbell and Jonathan Myers to break the program's 29-year old record in the shuttle hurdle relay (56.33). Nathan Franz, Brian Dumm, Chris Acs and Mark Walter also joined together to break a 23-year old mark in the 4X1600-meter relay by finishing with a time of 16:25.07.
On the women's side, Pounds shattered the Academy's javelin record. Recording a toss of 174'4" during her gold medal performance at the North America-Central America-Caribbean (NACAC) Championships, Pounds topped the previous record by nearly 20 feet.
Jean Taylor claimed the fastest time in Academy history in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:52.31, while Olivia Korte moved into the top spot of the discus records with a throw of 166'6".
In addition to the nine Academy records that were set during the season, there were 52 other instances of cadet-athletes moving into the track and field program's all-time top-10 lists.
The women had 36 incursions into the lists, highlighted by at least three additions to the steeplechase, 100-meter hurdles, pole vault, discus, hammer and javelin lists. The 19 moves on the men's also saw multiple movements in several events. The javelin and 110-meter hurdles had three additions, while four other events had two new marks.

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