Sean Houseworth Places 15th in 10,000-Meter Run
6/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
June 11, 2009
Afternoon Report - Neubauer Earns All-America Status in Shot Put
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - After a day and a half of action from the Falcons' field event athletes, it was time for the Air Force runners to take center stage at the 2009 NCAA Championships. The trio of recently graduated athletes accounted for one Academy record, another career-best mark and a strong showing in the 10,000-meter race on Thursday (June 11) evening.
Competing in the only track final being contested today, Sean Houseworth placed 15th in the 10,000-meter run. Running near the front of the chase pack, Houseworth clocked a time of 29:31.56 in his first-ever national meet. The top three finishers separated themselves early on in the race, but it was closely contested in the middle of the pack, as Houseworth finished just seconds out of the top eight. Oregon's Galen Rupp, the 2008 national cross country champion and American collegiate record holder in the 10K, won the championship final with a time of 28:21.45.
Two qualifying races also took place this evening for Air Force runners. Unfortunately, the pair narrowly missed the cut for advancing to the next round of competition.
Senior Daniel Castle clocked a career-best, Academy-record time of 3:44.08 to place 15th in the semifinal round of competition in the 1500-meter run. Improving his own time by nearly two seconds, Castle vaulted from fifth to first in the Academy's all-time record book, easily displacing former Falcon Brian Carpenter's 2001 mark of 3:44.42. His time was fifth in the third heat and 15th overall (out of 26 total runners), just missing a spot amongst the top 12 in the finals. However, Castle's time does qualify him for a spot in the USTF Championship in two weeks.
Fellow senior Kellen Curry had a heartbreaking conclusion to a stellar collegiate career, as he missed the cut to the semifinals by just .005 seconds. Curry clocked a career-best time of 14.16 in the first of four heats for the 110-meter hurdles. He finished tied with two other runners for the final spot into tomorrow's semifinal round. Once the times were broken down to the thousandth decimal, Curry finished at 14.160, while final qualifying spot went to Tennessee's Charlton Rolle and his time of 14.155. However, with his personal-best time, Curry ended his career with the seventh-best 110-meter hurdles time in Academy history.
The Falcons continue action tomorrow (Friday, June 12) with Nick Frawley competing the finals of the pole vault at 3:45 p.m.
Players Mentioned
