Justin Tyner Selected as MWC Athlete of the Week
3/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 30, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force junior distance runner Justin Tyner (Baxter, Minn.) was named the Mountain West Conference Male Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week, the league office announced this afternoon (March 30). It is the first weekly track and field honor for Tyner, although he did claim a cross country weekly award earlier this year.
Tyner won the 1500- and 5000-meter races at the Military Track and Field Championships in Lexington, Va., on March 27, setting meet records and career-best times in both. Tyner crossed the finish line of the 1500-meter run in 3:47.32. In addition to shaving eight seconds off of his previous best time, Tyner took five seconds off of the old meet standard. The junior paced Air Force to a sweep of the top two places in that race.
Returning to the track later that day, Tyner claimed another medal by winning the 5000-meter run in a personal-best time of 14:09.44. That time, the eighth-fastest in Academy history, shattered the previous Military Track and Field Championship mark by 27 seconds! For the second time in as many events, he paced the Falcons to the top two times, as well as four of the top six.
With his time in the 1500-meter run, Tyner currently leads the Mountain West Conference in that distance, while holding a 10th-place ranking in the national standings. In addition, he is ranked third in the conference and 30th in the nation in the 5000-meter run.
Tyner is the fourth different Air Force athlete to claim the conference award this season and brings the total number of weekly awards to seven. The squad splits for a pair of meets this weekend. Select field event members will travel to Austin, Texas, for the prestigious Texas Relays, while the rest of the team heads to Greeley, Colo., for the annual Tom Benich Classic.
