MWC Championship Recap
5/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 25, 2010
TWICE AS NICE
Sara Neubauer and Katie Weber teamed up to claim three of the four conference throwing titles at the MWC Championships. Neubauer claimed her first conference titles in the shot put and discus throw, while Weber earned her first such honor in the javelin throw. It is the first time since 2005 - and only the fourth-time ever - that one Mountain West Conference school (men or women) have taken first in three of the four throwing titles.
FALCONS CLAIM 11 ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
Highlighted by four medals from Sara Neubauer, the Falcons claimed 11 all-conference selections at the MWC Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., over the May 12-15 weekend. In all, seven individuals and one relay team earned top-three finishes in their respective events. Bryce Bergman, Nick Frawley, Jonathan Rock, Justin Tyner, Conner Van Fossen and Katie Weber earned individual honors, while Bergman, Chris Severino, Tyler Stanley and Manuel Smith teamed up on the 4x400-meter relay.
DID YOU KNOW?
Sara Neubauer became the first-ever MWC athlete (male or female) to earned all-conference honors in all four throwing events at the outdoor championship meet. Neubauer won the shot put and discus throw, while placing third in the hammer and javelin throws. In fact, the senior also won both throwing titles at the indoor meet, bringing her season total to four titles and six all-conference awards.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Sara Neubauer saved the best for last, as she won the shot put on her final attempt. Despite fouling off four of her first five attempts and sitting in fourth entering the final rotation, Neubauer recorded a throw of 51'1½" on her last chance to win the conference crown by two inches.
IT'S GOOD TO BE BLUE
With a second-place finish, Justin Tyner helped the Falcons to make a dominating statement on the medal podium of the 5000-meter run. Air Force accounted for four of the top seven spots, as all of its runners claimed scoring finishes. James Walmsley placed fifth, while Zach Nordahl and Jeremy Drenckhahn finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
DID YOU KNOW?
Air Force has accounted for four of the top eight runners in the 5000-meter run during each of the last four years.
MAKING SOME DRASTIC IMPROVEMENTS
Conner Van Fossen and Wyatt Warnick improved their personal distances in the javelin by a combined 30 feet at the conference championships. Van Fossen bettered his mark by 10 feet to finish third at 223'7", while Warnick improved his distance by over 20 feet to finish fifth at 197'7". Van Fossen moved into second on the Academy's all-time list, while Warnick debuted in 10th.
AIR POWER
Air Force earned half of the top six spots in the men's pole vault. Nick Frawley claimed his seventh all-conference honor in eight meets with a third-place finish of 17'0¾", while Joel Nolan and Rob Simmons finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with matching heights of 16'4¾".
MOVING ON UP
In addition to the changes in the javelin throw record book, several track incursions were made to the Academy all-time list at the conference championships. With a fourth-place time of 51.48 in the 400-meter hurdles, Bryce Bergman moved into fourth on the program's all-time list. Tyler Stanley also improved his fourth-place standing on the all-time list of the 800-meter run, as he clocked an altitude adjusted time of 1:49.67 to finish fourth in the conference. Alex Zubey debuted in ninth on the 1500-meter all-time list, as he clocked a time of 3:45.78 (altitude adjusted) to take sixth at the MWC meet.
PASSING THE BATON
Both of the women's relay teams made a dramatic impact on the Academy's all-time record book. Jessica Mapes and Bethany Gross each ran a leg of the 4x100-meter and the 4x400-meter relays that moved into the top-three on the program's all-time list. Jessamy Barton and Tawny Lambuth joined the pair on the 4x100-meter relay, which finished in 47.73 and moved into second on the all-time list, while Morgan Mosby and Ally Romanko teamed up with Mapes and Gross for the third-fastest 4x400-meter relay time ever at 3:45.05.
WHAT A DAY!
Sara Neubauer had an impressive first day of competition at the MWC Championships, winning the conference discus title and upping her own Academy record in the hammer throw. Throwing into a heavy crosswind, Neubauer dominated the field by over 13 feet to win the discus title (159'4"). Only hours before, she blasted her standard in the hammer throw by over seven feet (193'7"), to earn all-conference honors in that event.
RAISING THE BAR
Kimber Shealy set a personal-best clearance of 12'9½" to take fifth in the pole vault, improving her No. 2 ranking on the Academy's all-time list.
GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES
Jonathan Rock placed third in the 10,000-meter run (unadjusted time of 32:34.14) to mark that ninth straight year that Air Force has claimed at least one top-three finish in the championships' longest race. The Falcons earned a pair of top-five marks in 2010, as Jeremy Drenckhahn finished fifth in 32:53.97.
TIBBS SETS FRESHMAN DECATHLON RECORD
Michael Tibbs set a Freshman Class Record in the decathlon, as he finished fifth at the MWC Championships with a career-best 6,475 points. With a personal improvement of 169 points, Tibbs broke Marcus Nichols' 1994 class record by 12 points. In addition, he moved just 11 points from the Academy's top-10 list. His best placement of the day came in the discus throw, as he won that event.
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE HEPTATHLON
Danielle McCarty, Lesley Torres and Phaelen French all made an impact on the program's heptathlon standings at the conference meet. In her final competition, McCarty posted a career-best 4,494 points. By improving her personal score by 80 points, McCarty recorded the fourth-best total in Academy history. Torres moved into eighth on the all-time list, as she upped her personal total by 200 points (4,216) and Phaelen French improved her score by 150 points (3,967) to move from 10th to ninth on the all-time list.
Players Mentioned
