Select Falcons Head to NCAA Regional Championships
5/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 21, 2007
For several members of the Air Force track and field team, the season continues. The Falcons will send 12 members to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on May 25-26 in Des Moines, Iowa. The two-day meet, one of four such regional competitions, will determine which athletes will travel to next month's national championships.
Weekly Release 09 - at NCAA Regional Championships
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SCEHDULING 101: Friday (May 25) will be a busy day for the Falcons. Beginning at 1 p.m., the day will feature preliminary heats for all four Air Force runners, as well as five different field events. Saturday (May 26) features the remaining two field events, as well as the finals for all running events.
IT'S A `THROW' DOWN: Three Falcons will be competing in two different events at the regional meet. Senior Olivia Korte and freshman Sara Neubauer will both compete in the shot put and discus throw, while sophomore Kirk Devine will compete in the discus and hammer throws. In addition, senior Casey Bayne and freshman Katie Weber will compete in the javelin, while freshman Dan Paladino will join Devine in the hammer throw rotation. (Senior Matt Schwandt qualified for the regional meet in the javelin, but will not compete due to injury).
FROM THE POLE: Freshman Nick Frawley and Melissa Beerse will compete in the pole vault at the regional meet. Frawley, who recently qualified with a MWC championship performance, is currently ranked 11th in the NCAA with the fourth-best vault in the Midwest Region. Beerse, who set an Academy record with her top qualifying performance, is ranked 12th in the region.
ON YOU MARK, GET SET, GO!: Four Falcons will have to wait for a starting gun at the regional meet, as juniors Travis Picou (200-meter dash) and Kevin Hawkins (800-meter run) join sophomores Kellen Curry (110-meter hurdles) and Sean Houseworth (5000-meter run) as Air Force's representatives on the track.
DID YOU KNOW?: Seven Falcons set or improved their NCAA Regional Qualifying Marks in nine different field events at the Mountain West Conference Championships.
MAKING HISTORY: During the 2007 season, Air Force accounted for eight conference champions (two indoor, six outdoor). That total is tied for the most in Academy history, matching the eight titles that the Falcons claimed in 2002. That year, Air Force earned three indoor and five outdoor titles. YOUNG AND RESTLESS: Air Force will not lose a lot of momentum heading into next season, as its freshmen, sophomores and juniors combined for over 75-percent of the men's total score at the MWC Championships. The three youngest classes earned 112.50 of the team's 146 points.
A MULTITUDE OF MULTIS: Senior Brian Walsh claimed his second conference multi-event championship in as many years, as he won the decathlon with 7,321 points. Walsh's point total, just 13 points shy of his career best, is the third-best outing ever at the MWC Championships. Walsh becomes the Falcons' first decathlon champion of the MWC era and the first overall since 1997, when former Air Force great Marcus Nichols claimed his title at the WAC meet.
WELCOME BACK: Senior Matt Schwandt, who only recently returned to the field from an injury, posted a season-best distance of 207'2" to win the javelin by nearly five feet. With that throw, Schwandt claimed his third all-conference honor in as many years and became the Falcons' first men's javelin champion since 2003 (Tim Fritz). Ironically, after finishing as the runner-up as a sophomore (210'11") and junior (212'9"), it was his shortest conference throw (207'2") that proved to be the biggest.
ONE-THREE-FIVE: With a time of 30:50.98, sophomore Sean Houseworth became the second Falcon in as many years to earn win the 10,000-meter run at the conference meet. Classmate Joe Curran joined Houseworth with all-conference accolades, as he finished third with a time of 31:23.45. Fellow sophomore Parker Cowles clocked a time of 31.47.71 to place fifth.
QUITE A RUN: Since joining the MWC in 2000, Air Force has claimed either a men's or women's javelin title seven times. Matt Schwandt joins an impressive list that features Joe Bonner (2000), Tim Frtiz (2002-03) and Dana Pounds (2004-05-06). In addition, Air Force has claimed the Mountain West 10k title during five of the last six seasons. Sean Houseworth joins Ben Payne (2002-03-04) and Nick Wilson (2006) as winners of the league's longest race.
GOING OUT ON TOP: With a career-best 177'3", senior Olivia Korte set a new Academy record as she won her first conference title in the discus. Topping her old program standard (175'5") by nearly two feet, Korte also set a new MWC Championship meet record, edging out Colorado State graduate Loree Smith's 2001 record of 177'1". Korte led the Falcons to a one-two finish, as freshman Sara Neubauer finished second with a career-best mark of 160'11", which is the second-best throw in Air Force history.
HE'S AT IT AGAIN: Junior Kevin Hawkins crossed the finish line of the 800-meter run in 1:50.66 to earn his second career conference title. Hawkins, who also won the 800-meter title at the indoor meet in February, became the Falcons' first outdoor champion in this event since 1994 (Jeff Kuzma) and only the second in Academy history. Classmate Calvin Glass bolstered the Falcons' point total with a sixth-place time of 1:53.87.
RAISING THE BAR: Clearing 17'5½", freshman Nick Frawley claimed his first conference title. As the only non-BYU vaulter to finish within the top five, Frawley out-distanced himself from the field by four inches. That mark, which is a career-best by over a foot, is the fourth-best height in Academy history and the best height of the season by anyone in the Mountain West Conference. Frawley is the Falcons' first pole vault champion since Paul Gensic won it as a freshman at the 2002 MWC Championships.
MOVING ON UP: Freshman Dan Paladino and sophomore Kirk Devine both recorded career-best distances in the hammer throw to earn points for the Falcons at the MWC meet. Paladino improved his Freshman Class Record of 189'9" to place seventh, while Devine increased his Sophomore Class Record of 186'9" to take eighth. Paladino is now tied for the fourth-best distance in Academy history, while Devine remains in eighth but is now just two inches shy of the seventh spot.
UP AND RUNNING: Sophomore Kellen Curry was the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles at the MWC Championships, while junior Travis Picou was the runner-up in the 200-meter. (In that race, he and senior Nick Luina were the only two sprinters in the top seven that were not a member of the TCU squad.) In addition to his finish in the 200-meter dash, Picou also earned a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash, while Curry added fifth-place points. In addition, Luina, Curry and Picou teamed up with junior John Payne for a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay.
FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Sophomore Kirk Devine added points to the Falcons' cause at the MWC Championships, while moving up the program's all-time standings at the same time. Tossing a discus distance of 176'6", Devine finished fourth in the event. That mark, which is a career-best throw by over six feet and the fifth-best time in Academy history, displaced the former Sophomore Class Record that had stood since 1992.
THE FEARSOME DUO: In addition to their top-two finishes in the discus, freshman Sara Neubauer and senior Olivia Korte earned all-conference honors in the shot put as they finished second and third, respectively. Neubauer was the event runner-up with a throw of 48'3½", while Korte set a new Senior Class Record of 48'2" - the second-best throw in Academy history - to take third.
ONE IN...ONE OUT: With a sixth-place decathlon total of 6,334 points, sophomore Skylar Morgan moved into 10th on the Academy's all-time list ... effectively bumping teammate Matt Gensic from that perch by seven points.
NEUBAUER NAMED ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Sara Neubauer was named the Mountain West Conference athlete of the week on May 8. With a NCAA Regional Qualifying throw, Neubauer won the shot put at the Falcons' home finale. In addition, Neubauer vaulted up five places in the all-time standings for the discus throw, as she heaved a 156'10" to take second. The distance, another NCAA Regional Qualifying Mark, is the third-best throw in Academy history. It is also the second-best throw in the Mountain West Conference this season.
ON DECK: Any athletes that finishes within the top five of this weekend's regional meet will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championships, which will be held June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. Senior Brian Walsh is slated to make an appearance at the national meet, as he is ranked eighth in the country in the decathlon (which is not contested at the regional level).
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