2008 Holiday Letter from Coach Lindeman
12/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Dec. 19, 2008
AIR FORCE ACADEMY CROSS COUNTRY AND TRACK & FIELD GRADS,
I'm inexcusably overdue in keeping you abreast of news from our program, but hope you'll appreciate the following newsletter... and since it's the holiday season, it won't be unlike many of the letters you get from family and friends! So much has happened in our program over the past year, so let me start with the 2008 track season...
'08 INDOOR SEASON
We began the season with two new coaches--John Hayes (from Northern Arizona University) as our new distance coach (replacing Coach Stanforth) and Scott Steffan (from the University of New Mexico) as our new jumps and pole vault coach. Coach Scott Irving entered his 9th season in our program coaching our throwers, then-Capt Ben Dahlke (recently pinned on "Major"!) coaching our hurdlers, and volunteers Ron White again working with our sprinters, and Bob Graf with our high jumpers.
We again hosted the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships, after a 2-year hiatus at the Albuquerque Convention Center hosted by New Mexico.
Our women broke two USAFA School Records--sophomore Melissa Beerse jumped 13'6½" in the pole vault and fellow soph Sara Neubauer threw 50'2" with the shot. Both Melissa and Sara earned All-Mountain West Conference honors with their runner-up and 3rd place finishes in their respective events. Both met NCAA Provisional qualifying standards, and Melissa became USAFA's 1st-ever NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier and finished 13th at the NCAA meet in Arkansas.
Our men also broke two USAFA School Records--senior Sean Houseworth in the 5000m Run with his time of 13:59.28, and junior Kirk Devine in the Weight Throw with his 60'2 ½" effort. Three individuals won MWC individual titles and led our team to a 3rd place finish (just 1 point behind runner-up TCU)--Houseworth in the 3000m Run, sophomore Nick Frawley in the Pole Vault and senior David Lissy in the Shot Put (57'11"). Additional All-MWC honors were garnered by senior Travis Picou in the 200m Dash (3rd place), senior Kevin Hawkins in the 800m Run (2nd), juniors Matt Williams and Sean Houseworth in the 5000m Run (2nd and 3rd, respectively) and junior Kellen Curry in the 60m Hurdles (2nd). Nick Frawley advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships on the strength of his 17'10¼" leap in the Pole Vault at Conference and finished 13th in Fayetteville.
'08 OUTDOOR SEASON
Our annual "Spring Training Trip" was to Tucson and Tempe for meets at the University of Arizona and Arizona State. We stayed the majority of the time at Davis-Monthan AFB and were treated so well there we're planning a return engagement in 2009. Other highlights of our schedule included the Stanford Invitational, Louisville Classic, Drake Relays and the 1st-ever Front Range Invitational--replacing the old Air Force-CU-CSU triangular we had in the mid-`90's and adding Wyoming and new NCAA Division I member, Northern Colorado.
Melissa Beerse and Sara Neubauer again set USAFA School Records outdoors--13'1½" in the pole vault and 50'4½" in the shot put respectively. Two females earned All-MWC recognition for their finishes in the top 3 at the Conference Championships--soph Ally Romanko in the 800m (3rd in 2:08.00) and Sara Neubauer in the Discus Throw (2nd at 160'2"). Five women qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional in Nebraska--Beerse, Neubauer, Romanko, soph Katie Weber in the Javelin Throw and freshman Rachel Simmons in the Pole Vault.
Our men had a spectacular meet at the Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships in Fort Worth although placing 3rd--again behind BYU and host TCU. Senior Kevin Hawkins won his 3rd MWC 800m title and senior Ian McFarland had the performance of the meet when he was an upset winner in both the 5000m and 10,000m Runs in hot, muggy weather. From my view his was the most outstanding "double" USAFA has ever had in Conference Meet history. Junior Kellen Curry was the MWC runner-up in the high hurdles for the 4th consecutive Championship meet.
Kevin Hawkins led our 10-man contingent which competed at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Lincoln where he set an outdoor Men's School Record (1:48.62) in the 800m Run, advancing him to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines. Another highlight at the NCAA Regional was the 9:01.34 effort in the 3000m Steeplechase by junior Matt Williams. Nick Frawley again qualified for the NCAA's where he had the top finish by a Falcon in 44 years (since Jim Murphy's NCAA title at 5000m in 1964) with his runner-up finish in the pole vault!
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS, HONORS
We had the honor or having several candidates for the U.S. Olympic team training with us--our own USAF WCAP'ers Paul Gensic (Pole Vault), Olivia Korte (Discus Throw) and Dana Pounds (Javelin Throw), Army WCAP'er Nate Garcia (400mH, training with Coach Graf) and 1500m runner Lopez Lomong, an NAU alum training with Coach Hayes and living at the USOTC in Colorado Springs. Dana went on to place 2nd at the Trials but missed making the team for lack of an "A" qualifying standard, while Lopez not only made the team but was chosen as the USA's Flag Bearer for the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing and then advanced to the semifinals of the 1500m Run. He was a terrific representative of "our" program, as he referenced USAFA at every opportunity and of course our facilities were the background for many media interviews he did leading up to the Games.
Another off-season highlight was the naming of 5-time MWC sprint Champion, '08 grad Travis Picou to the Mountain West Conference 10-year Anniversary team in the 200m Dash, the only Falcon so honored.
'08 CROSS COUNTRY SEASON
After a fairly normal start to the season, Coach Hayes left for the University of Texas 4 weeks into the season, leaving us without a cross country coach. Rather than turn the program over to a part-time coach, volunteer or interim coach, I decided to take the reins for the balance of the season. It would be my first time coaching cross country since the tremendous 1991 season (WAC Champs, 14th at NCAA's!) and the experience really reconnected me with our distance runners and hopefully our student-athletes had a positive experience with me at the helm. Our women's team had their best year in several, placing 6th in the Mountain West Conference and 13th in the NCAA Mountain Regional. Juniors Katie Lynch (running cross country for the 1st time ever!), Brittany Morreale and Ally Romanko led the team, with a huge contribution by no fewer than four freshmen letterwinners, led by Auriele Fain.
Our men's team had a fabulous 1-2 punch in seniors Sean Houseworth and Matt Williams, who exchanged order frequently but always finishing as our top 2 runners in every meet. The senior-laden squad also had a fine 3-4-5 "group running" effort week-in and week-out with senior Dan Castle, junior Zach Nordahl and sophomore Justin Tyner. The team placed 2nd in the Conference meet in San Diego behind BYU (which went on to finish 10th at NCAA's) and 5th at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Fort Collins.
I thoroughly enjoyed coaching cross country again, but engaged in a thorough coaching search, enlisting the help of our cross country team captains in the interview process. At the end of the season, we were able to make what I believe is an incredible hire of a new cross country coach in Juli Henner. A '96 Olympian who coached collegiately at Georgetown and George Mason, and who coaches several outstanding male elite runners as well, she will make a significant impact on the success of our men's and women's programs. I had the opportunity to watch Coach Henner in action at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka when we were both on the USA team coaching staff, and was extremely impressed with her. Her excellence, experience and expertise is already showing as she's worked with our middle distance and distance runners since the conclusion of the cross country season. You can read about our new hire on the news release posted on our website here
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2009
We're now anxiously looking ahead to the 2009 seasons. We'll again be hosting the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships, this time on our newly re-surfaced indoor track, and have an outstanding schedule of indoor and outdoor meets, home and away. I really hope you can find your way to one of our meets--please contact me in advance so I can send you an itinerary with our meet line-up, event schedule and where we'll be staying if you can make it--we'd love to have you join us for a team meal again! You can access our 2009 competition schedule at here.
By the way, I have no explanation for the reasons but our recruiting for the USAFA Class of 2013 is going spectacularly... actually, I do know the reason--Coaches Dahlke and Steffan have put an unbelievable recruiting system into place of thorough mailing, electronic correspondence and dynamic campus visits with amazing results. You can help us by "bird-dogging" your area this spring and e-mailing us any links to news articles about high school track stars, particularly juniors and sophomores. We'll greatly appreciate your help!
PERSONAL
I'd be remiss if I didn't report to you about my own personal health "horror" one evening towards the conclusion of the cross country season, when I had cardiac arrest from arrhythmia issues with my heart and was rushed to the E.R., spent a week in the hospital and had two procedures performed to prevent this from coming up again. I'm still not traveling yet, but getting stronger with each passing week and anxious to begin the 2009 season!
I'm now looking forward to a quiet Christmas season, enjoying time in Colorado Springs with my wife, kids and their spouses and our five (5!) grandkids.
"LOST" ALUMS
In developing the mailing list for this newsletter, there are a large number of grads for whom I have no e-mail address or can't find on the "Global" address list--particularly those who are (1) no longer in the USAF, (2) have "married" names, or (3) graduated before my arrival at USAFA. Please reply to this message with any e-mail addresses you might have for some of your former teammates, as well as forwarding this message to them. Thanks in advance!
Also, please go online here and complete our online "Alumni questionnaire" so we can be updated on your whereabouts. Better yet, please drop me a line and let me know how you and your family are doing and how your career is going!
FIELD HOUSE LEGACY FUND / FALCON PRIDE BOOSTER CLUB
Although we've never formed a track/cross country-specific "booster club", a vehicle is now in place within the Athletic Department structure for communication from us and channeling donations specifically to our track & field and cross country programs, the Falcon Pride Clubs
In conjunction with the Falcon Pride Club, we want to immediately initiate a drive for a "Field House Legacy Fund" which will recognize the achievements of alumni from both our track and cross country programs. This will include:
1. New record boards at the indoor track for USAFA School Records and Field House Records; 2. New trophy case outside the Coaches' Office suite; 3. New pictures on our "Wall of Fame" on the mezzanine overlooking the track; 4. New team "Championship banners" for our cross country and track teams which won past Conference and NCAA titles and runner-up spots; 5. New MWC "team banners" representing each Conference institution overlooking the indoor track; 6. New large banners recognizing our past NCAA, USA and Olympic Champions--six of them hanging over the indoor track (Conway, Calhoun, Pounds, Murphy, Ryan and Babers).
We fully realize these are difficult times in a frightening economy, but if you have the ability to donate to the "Falcon Pride Club" in the name of track/cross country, your tax-deductible donation will go towards this "Legacy Fund," and will be recognized in both correspondence from the "Falcon Pride Club" leadership as well as myself and our program.
Finally, myself and our entire coaching staff wish you a very happy holiday season and may 2009 be the best year ever for you personally and professionally!
// Coach Lindeman //
Players Mentioned
