Falcons Split For Pair of Road Competitions

COMING UP: The Air Force track and field team divides up for a pair of competitions this weekend. Several members will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the annual Drake Relays on April 28-30, while the rest of the team heads south to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Modrall Sperling-Don Kirby Memorial Invitational on April 30.

DRAKE RELAYS: The Academy will have 23 representatives at the Drake Relays, which features some of the nation's top athletes. The Falcons' first event will be the 'university' 5000-meter run, which is slated to go at 4:50 p.m., on Thursday (April 28). The rest of the participants will compete on Friday and Saturday.

MODRALL SPERLING-DON KIRBY MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL: The 15th annual meet will feature teams from Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, Western State and Wyoming, in addition to the women's team from New Mexico State. The day is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m., with the women's long jump and hammer throw. The women's 400-meter dash kicks off the running events at 12:30 p.m.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Freshman Calvin Glass (April 26) ... freshman Candice Killian (April 27) ... senior Brittany Wright (April 27) ... sophomore Brandon Murphy (April 30).

ON THE HORIZON: The Falcons return to the Academy on Friday, May 6, to close out the regular season hosting the Ris Westen-Air Force Twilight Invitational. It will be Air Force's final competition before the Mountain West Conference Championships, which will be held on May 11-14 in Fort Collins, Colo.

RECAPPING THE WEEKEND AT CSU

AIR FORCE MEN WIN AT CSU: With a sweep of the top-three pole vault spots, the Air Force men's track and field team finished first at the Jack Christiansen Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo., on Saturday, April 23, while the women's team finished third.

RELAY TEAM SETS ACADEMY RECORD: Clocking a time of 47.61, Jami Hodge, Genelle Chapman, Rachael McIntosh and Deb Durey teamed up to set an Academy record in the 4x100-meter relay.

FRESHMEN HAVE CAREER WEEKEND: With a career-best outing in all events, freshman Matt Gensic tallied 5,588 points to finish second in the decathlon at the Glenn Morris Multi-Events Meet on April 22. Classmate Deb Durey wrapped up the heptathlon in fifth-place with 4,347 points, behind a flurry of personal-best times and marks.

LAST YEAR AT THE DRAKE RELAYS

Dana Pounds threw a (then) Academy record 172'1" in the javelin to win the event at the Drake Relays on April 23. Pounds crushed the previous record of 167'3" that she set just five weeks earlier to become the program's first Drake Relays champion since 1976. She also recorded the longest women's javelin throw at the Relays since 1986.

Four members of the men's squad teamed up for an Academy record third-place finish in the men's 4x1600-meter relay. Nathan Franz, Brian Dumm, Chris Acs and Mark Walter crossed the finish line in a time of 16:25.07, finishing ahead of 11 other collegiate teams. The quartet's time of 16:25.07 shattered the Academy's previous record of 16:31.4, which was set 23 years ago

The only women's track participants of the weekend picked up a ninth-place finish in the distance medley relay. Kelly McPherson, Jami Hodge, Cindy Dawson and Nicole Graham finished the race in a time of 11:54.91 -- the second-fastest in Academy history.

Crossing the finish line in a time of 56.33, the Air Force 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay team ran the third-fastest time in the world at the Drake Relays on April 24. The Falcon quartet of Sean Temple, Luke Marker, Jim Campbell and Jonathan Myers also set a new Academy record in that event, breaking the previous mark that had stood for 29 years.

MEN'S SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

LEADERS AND BEST: Freshman Travis Picou currently leads the Mountain West Conference in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Picou has clocked season-best times of 10.62 (100) and 21.07 (200) to claim the league's top spot. Sophomore Matt Schwandt also leads the MWC; posting the top javelin throw at a distance of 214'6?".

SPEARING IT UP: In addition to Matt Schwandt's league-leading distance in the javelin, Air Force boasts the second and third-ranked athletes in the conference, as well as four of the top-five. Sophomores Brandon Murphy and Marcus Wells are ranked second (208'4?") and third (203'1"), respectively, while senior Brian Willis is ranked fifth with a toss of 193'6".

ANOTHER VAULT, ANOTHER WIN: With Makisi Haleck's win at the Jack Christiansen Invitational, a member of the Air Force pole vault team has been the top collegiate competitor during 13 of the last 15 weeks of the season. And in the two weeks that one of the Falcons didn't win the title, Paul Gensic finished within the top-three (second at the MWC Championships and third at the NCAA Championships). Over the course of the season, Gensic has claimed five victories, while Makisi Haleck has four. Jason Jones and Trey Fryman have each won two, while Joel Nolan has claimed one.

MOVING ON UP: While Matt Schwandt led Air Force with a second-place finish in the javelin at the Jack Christiansen Invitational, he also recorded a career-best throw in the process. With a toss of 214'6", the sophomore topped his previous personal best by nearly 12 feet. In addition, the throw is the third-best distance ever at the Academy and a new Sophomore class record.

TO THE TOP OF THE LIST: Brian Dumm posted an Academy record in 10,000-meter run with a time of 29:04.55 at the Stanford Invitational. His time topped the previous program-best of 29:25.34 that Ben Payne set just last season.

WOMEN'S SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

POUNDS BECOMES NCAA LEADER WITH FOURTH-BEST THROW IN U.S. HISTORY: On her final throw at the Mt SAC Relays, junior Dana Pounds recorded a 188'8" to become the new NCAA leader in the javelin throw, while also recording the fourth-best distance ever in U.S. history. Four of Pounds' throws went for over 180'0", as she crushed her previous Academy and Mountain West Conference records. She was the top collegiate finisher, placing second only to a Danish Olympian who holds the third-best distance in the world. In fact, Pounds bested the U.S. Olympian by 17 feet, while topping the next collegiate competitor by 31 feet with the 13th-best throw in the world this season.

CAUTION! FALLING RECORDS: Senior Jami Hodge shattered a 22-year old Academy record in the 200-meter dash on April 2. Hodge ran the race in 24.46 to crush the previous mark of 24.81 set in 1983 by former Falcon great, Gail Conway. By setting the Academy record, Hodge becomes the only person, other than Conway, to hold any of the outdoor dash or 800-meter run records.

MORE FALLING MARKS: Sophomore Margaret Frash set an Academy record in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on April 16. With a time of 10:48.25, Frash topped the previous record (set last year by Jean Taylor) by over four seconds.

POUNDS IS LEAGUE'S TOP ATHLETE: Backed by another phenomenal performance at the Mt SAC Relays, Dana Pounds was named the MWC Women's Track and Field Athlete of the Week on April 20. This is her second honor of the year - her first coming after the ASU Invitational, where she set the then-program and conference record of 182'1".

SEPERATING HERSELF FROM THE PACK: Dana Pounds, who leads the nation in the javelin throw, tops anyone in the Mountain West Conference by nearly 40 feet! Pounds has sent the spear a record distance of 188'8", while the league's second-ranked athlete - teammate Caitie Holliday - has topped out at 149'10".

Related News

Related Videos

Footer