Falcons Travel to Albuquerque for MWC Championships
2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Feb. 24, 2010
The indoor championship season begins this week for the Air Force track and field team, as the Falcons travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the 2010 Mountain West Conference Championships. Action for the three-day meet gets underway on Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Albuquerque Convention Center, and continues through Saturday, Feb. 28.
Meet Notes 07: at Mountain West Conference Championships 
Updated 2010 Indoor Performance List
FOLLOW ALONG FROM HOME
Real-time results for the 2010 Mountain West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships can be found here. Additionally, GoAiForceFalcons.com will provide updates throughout the final two days, live from Albuquerque.
SCHEDULING INFORMATION
Thursday's action, which features the women's pentathlon and the first four events of the men's heptathlon, will begin at 11 a.m. Friday also begins at 11 a.m., with the conclusion of the men's heptathlon. Individual events get underway from the field at 1 p.m., with the first track event - the women's 5000-meter final - is slated for a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday's field event action begins at 9:45 a.m., while the running events get underway one hour later.
HISTORY 101
The Air Force men have finished third at the indoor championships during eight of the last 10 years, while placing fourth in the remaining two years. Last year, the women tied for their best team finish as a member of the MWC - placing seventh.
HISTORY 201
Since the formation of the Mountain West Conference for the 2000 season, Air Force has been atop the indoor medal podium on 23 occasions. Nick Frawley is the only returning champion, having won the pole vault title in 2008. Former Air Force standouts Travis Picou and Sean Houseworth are the most decorated indoor champions, as each won three indoor titles during the career.
SHEALY EARNS CONFERENCE HONOR
Following a career-best performance at Wyoming, Kimber Shealy was named the MWC Athlete of the Week on Feb. 23. The sophomore became just the second Air Force female to clear the 13-foot bar in the pole vault, as she recorded a career-best, NCAA provisional mark of 13'3½" to win the event by over three feet and move into second on the program's all-time list.
DID YOU KNOW?
Kimber Shealy became the fourth Air Force athlete this season to earn the league's weekly honor, joining Nick Frawley (twice honored), Sara Neubauer (twice honored) and Ally Romanko. The six weekly awards set a program record for the most such honors in a single season. However, the previous high of five, set in 2004, encompassed both the indoor and outdoor season.
VAULTING TO NEW HEIGHTS
The height of 13'3½" that Kimber Shealy recorded at the Robert Shine Invitational is a new meet record, as well as the best clearance ever at Wyoming's War Memorial Field House.
CAN'T HAVE A RELEASE WITHOUT THIS...
Sara Neubauer upped her Academy record in the shot put to 52'11" at the Robert Shine Invitational, marking the fifth time in seven meets that she has rewrote the program and Senior Class record. Neubauer bettered the field by nearly eight feet to remain unbeaten in the shot put this season. She also won the weight throw with a distance of 61'6¼", displacing the field by over four feet.
SIMPLY SIMMONS
Rob Simmons picked up his second straight first-place finish in the pole vault at Wyoming, clearing a career-best-matching height of 16'6¾". Cale Simmons recorded an identical clearance (also matching his career-high), but finished second to his brother based on attempts.
OTHER RECORD BOOK ADDITIONS FROM WYOMING
For the second straight week, Kyle Schwochow increased his distance in the shot put to 53'1¾" to improve his ninth-place standing on the program's all-time list. Loren Van Rassen cleared 5'5" in the high jump to debut in ninth on the program's all-time list.
HIGH JUMP HAPPENINGS
After going nine years without an incursion to the women's high jump standings, the Falcons have posted two top-10 marks in a span of six days. Loren Van Rassen's 5'5" jump at the Robert Shine Invitational on Feb. 19 matches the jump cleared by Danielle McCarty at the Air Force Invitational on Feb. 13.
