Air Force Academy
MWC Championships
Men Take Fourth at MWC Championships; Women Place Seventh
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 16, 2009
Complete Results
Photo Gallery from Day 4
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Highlighted by eight all-conference selections, the Air Force track and field team wrapped up action at the Mountain West Conference Championships on Saturday, May 16, in Laramie, Wyo. The men finished fourth, while the women placed seventh. The seventh-place team standing for the women is tied for the second-best finish in program history, while the 62-point output is the best ever.
Sara Neubauer had another impressive day for the women, breaking her own Academy record in the shot put en route to a runner-up finish at the conference meet. The junior tossed a distance of 50'10¾" to up the program standard by six inches. In addition, Neubauer earned points for the Falcons in the javelin throw, placing sixth with a career-best 142'4" (the eighth-best throw in program history).
Freshman Paige Blackburn earned all-conference honors in the javelin throw, as she threw a career-high 151'4" to place third. That distance is the third farthest in Academy history. Blackburn also scored in the shot put, tossing a career-best 46'8¼" to finish sixth and move into third on the Academy's all-time list.
Junior Ally Romanko rounded out the all-conference selections for the women's team, as she finished third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:11.55.
Neubauer and Blackburn were two of three Air Force scorers in the javelin throw, as junior Katie Weber placed fifth with a toss of 147'0". Romanko also paced a pair of scorers in the 800-meter run, as classmate Becca Burditt clocked an eighth-place time of 2:16.95.
Freshmen Jess Barton, Tawny Lambuth and Gabrielle Quirao joined junior Jessica Mapes for a seventh-place time of 48.17 in the 4x100-meter relay. Junior Danielle McCarty also scored for the Falcons in the 400-meter hurdles, as she finished eighth with a time of 67.23.
On the men's side, senior Kellen Curry was the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 14.72. He also pushed the 4x100-meter relay team to all-conference honors, using a furious surge during the anchor leg to a third-place time of 42.03. Curry, who also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash (21.11), ran the final leg of a relay squad that included classmate Matthew Davis, freshman Bryce Bergman and sophomore Matthew Jones.
Bergman also earned an all-conference selection in the 110-meter hurdles, as he finished third in 14.79. He and Curry highlighted the Falcons' afternoon with two of the top three placements in that event.
The Falcons earned multiple scoring finishes in the pole vault, including an all-conference selection from junior Nick Frawley, who cleared 16'10¾" to finish third. Freshman Cort Rogers finished fourth with a career-best 16'¾", while sophomore Noah Palicia (15'7") and junior Marshall Wills (14'7¼") placed sixth and eighth, respectively.
Senior Sean Houseworth earned all-conference accolades in the 5000-meter run, pacing Air Force to four scoring finishes. Houseworth clocked a time of 14:50.07 to finish third, while classmate Matt Williams placed fourth in 15:00.92. Sophomore Justin Tyner (15:11.50) and junior Zach Nordahl (15:25.51) rounded out the Air Force scoring distance runners with respective seventh- and eighth-place times.
Air Force accounted for three scoring athletes in the javelin throw. Senior Harmon Gage posted a career-best 204'11" (the eighth-best throw in Academy history) to finish fourth, while sophomores Connor Van Fossen (197'10") and Jon Santiago (191'1") finished fifth and seventh, respectively.
Senior Daniel Castle finished fifth in the 1500-meter run after clocking a time of 3:58.59, while classmate Sebastian Ortiz earned an eighth-place time of 4:00.40. In addition to their all-conference nod in the 4x100-meter relay, Jones placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (52.44), while Davis placed seventh in the 100-meter dash (10.63). The pair each also ran a leg of the 4x400-meter relay team that earned a sixth-place score (3:17.71), joining freshman Benjamin Cox and Bergman in the final relay of the day.
The men tallied 124 points, while the women earned 62. BYU won both the men's women's titles for the eighth time in 10 years. The Cougars won the men's meet with 214 points, while TCU (139 points) and New Mexico (135) finished second and third, respectively. Colorado State finished behind the Falcons with 110 points, while host Wyoming placed sixth with 84 points. On the women's side, BYU collected 190 points, while TCU (125) and Colorado State (95.50) finished second and third. San Diego State (87.50), Utah (76) and New Mexico (75.50) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, while UNLV (53) and Wyoming (49.50) rounded out the field.
Air Force returns to action on Friday, May 29, when it travels to Norman, Okla., for the NCAA Regional Championships. Several Falcons will be competing at the regional meet, as they vie for a chance to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships.
Players Mentioned
