Falcons Head to Jack Christiansen Invitational
4/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 21, 2011
The Air Force track and field team will travel to Fort Collins, Colo., for the annual Jack Christiansen Invitational on Apr. 22-23. The Falcons' hammer throwers will open the weekend on Friday, while the rest of the squad will head to Jack Christiansen Track - site of next month's MWC Championships - on Saturday for the remainder of the events. Action begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the majority of the field events, as well as the start of the running events.
Meet Notes 15: at Jack Christiansen Invitational 
MEET INFORMATION
The Jack Christiansen Invitational gets underway on Friday, Apr. 22, with the men's and women's hammer throw, beginning at 2 p.m. All other events will be held on Saturday, Apr. 23, at the Jack Christiansen Track on Colorado State's campus. The women's discus throw, men's shot put, men's long jump, women's high jump and women's 5000-meter run kick off the day at 10 a.m.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Air Force has two athletes ranked among the top 25 in the national standings of their respective events. Justin Tyner's 1500-meter time of 3:42.51 is ranked 11th, while Noah Palicia's 7,385 points in the decathlon is ranked 15th. Robert Drye is just one spot out of the top-25 in the hammer throw, holding at 26th with a throw of 202'11".
BY THE NUMBERS
Following his career-best performance at the California Invitational Combined Events Meet, Noah Palicia now holds the third-best decathlon score (7,385 points) in Mountain West Conference history.
ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
Air Force holds two of the top three decathlon totals in the conference, as well as three of the top five javelin throw distances. Noah Palicia is ranked second - and just four points behind first - in the decathlon with 7,385 points, while Michael Tibbs is ranked third with 6,817 points. In the javelin throw, Mike Lauritzen is ranked second with a distance of 213'5", while Tim Urista and Conner Van Fossen are ranked fourth (213'1") and fifth (211'5"), respectively.
CAUTION, FALLING RECORDS
Kassie Gurnell and Emily Cotharn made history on Saturday, April 16, as they both broke Academy records in their respective events. Competing at the CSU-Pueblo Invitational, Kassie Gurnell broke the program's 26-year-old triple jump record with a career-best distance of 40'8¾". In addition to bettering the previous mark of 40'6¼" that had stood since 1985, Gurnell won the 18-competitor event. In California, Cotharn clocked a 400-meter hurdles time of 62.30 to break the program's two-week-old record by 0.20 and place 10th in a field of 51.
DID YOU KNOW?
In the past two weeks, two different Falcons (Rachel Thomas on Apr. 2; Emily Cotharn on Apr. 16) have broken the Academy record in the 400-meter hurdles, displacing a mark that had stood for nine years. In fact, prior to the beginning of April, only one Falcon had cracked the top five since the original record was set in 2002.
IT'S BEEN A BUSY DAY
The 4x400-meter relay team of Cory Engel, Anthony Delgado, Manny Smith and Chris Severino won the 12-team race at the Beach Invitational with a time of 3:12.45. In addition to their team-effort in the winning relay, all four competed in individual events. Engel finished sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (54.07) and 18th in the 110-meter hurdles (14. 89) with career-best times, while Delgado posted a personal-best time of 21.80 to finish 22nd in the 200-meter dash. Smith and Severino finished 14th (48.50) and 23rd (49.11), respectively, in the 400-meter dash.
A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME
With five first-place finishes and a 44-point advantage, the men's team easily won the 13-team CSU-Pueblo Invitational on Apr. 16. Matt Jones (400-meter hurdles), Matt Caldwell (800-meter run), Elliott Beski (pole vault), Tim Urista (javelin throw) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Jones, Bruce Bergman, Michael Craig and David Ptacek claimed first-place finishes for the Falcons. The women collected two first-place finishes (Kassie Gurnell-triple jump, Bizzy Mellado-pole vault) to place fourth (71 points) in the 14-team meet.
THE LATE SHOW
Katherine Ward shaved nearly one minute off of her previous best 5000-meter time to record the second-fastest time in Academy history during the Mt. SAC Relays on Apr. 15. With a time of 16:57.95, Ward became just the second member of the women's team to break the 17-minute mark in that event.
UNDER THE LIGHTS
With a career-best time of 13:59.57, Jeremy Drenckhahn posted the fourth-fastest 5000-meter time in program history at the Mt. SAC Relays on Apr. 15. In addition to debuting on the all-time list, Drenckhahn became just the fourth Falcon to break the 14-minute mark in program history.
A LITTLE TRIVIA
Jeremy Drenckhahn became the third Falcon in the last two years to break the 14-minute mark in the 5000 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays. Drenckhahn joins Justin Tyner and Jim Walmsley, who moved into first and third, respectively, with sub 14-minute marks at the 2010 meet. The three current Falcons are now linked with former standout Eric Mack, who had held the distinction outright since 1996.
HOW `BOUT SOME HISTORY?
Katherine Ward and Jeremy Drenckhahn have impacted the program's top-five times of the 5000-meter race during the same meet twice this season. In addition to their respective outdoor performances at the Mt. SAC Relays, the pair also rewrote the indoor record book at the Husky Classic. At that meet, Ward moved into second on the women's all-time list, while Drenckhahn clocked the fifth-fastest men's time.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
The duo of Katherine Ward and Jeremy Drenckhahn also made adjustments to the program's all-time list of the 10,000-meter run at the Stanford Invitational in late March, clocking the second (Ward) and fourth (Drenckhahn) fastest times in program history.
KANETZKY CAN
Crossing the finish line of the 10,000-meter run in 36:44.94, Kate Kanetzky recorded the fourth-fastest time in Academy history at the Mt. SAC Relays on Apr. 14. Shaving over two minutes off of her previous best time, Kanetzky vaulted from 10th to second on the all-time list and set a new Sophomore Class Record.
MORE FACTS
Kate Kanetzky became the second Falcon this season - as well as the second in over a decade to record a top-five time in the program record book for the 10,000-meter run. Kanetzky (fourth all-time) joins Katherine Ward (second) as the only Falcons since 2000 to impact the all-time top five.
PALICIA SHINES AT CALIFORNIA DECATHLON
Improving his decathlon score by nearly 750 points, Noah Palicia won the 10-event California Invitational on Apr. 14, vaulted from eighth to second on the all-time list and posted a Senior Class Record. Palicia moved from fifth to first in the meet's standings during the final five events. Highlighting the two-day meet was a new decathlon record in the 400-meter dash. Palicia clocked a career-best time of 48.70 to break Marcus Nichols' 1996 decathlon time of 48.94 and easily win the 30-competitor race.
MORE MULTI-MEET NOTES
Michael Tibbs improved his decathlon total by nearly 350 points to debut in fifth on the Academy's all-time list, while Lesly Torres bettered her heptathlon score by over 200 points to move from eighth to fifth on the all-time list with a new Sophomore Class Record.
WHAT'S ON DECK
Select Falcons will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the 102nd Drake Relays on April 28-30, while the rest of the squad will head to Laramie, Wyo., for the Front Range Classic.
Players Mentioned
