Falcons Head to 2011 MWC Championships
5/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 10, 2011
The championship season begins this week for the Air Force track and field team, as the squad heads to Fort Collins, Colo., for the 2011 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The four-day meet begins on Wednesday, May 11, and continues through Saturday, May 14, at Jack Christiansen Track Stadium on the campus of Colorado State.
Meet Notes 17: at MWC Outdoor Championships 
2011 Air Force Media Guide | Updated Best Marks List
Real Time Scoring | RunnerSpace.com Footage
MEET INFORMATION
The 2011 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at the Jack Christiansen Track Stadium in Fort Collins, Colo. Tickets for Friday and Saturday are $5 for adults and $3 for children, per day. For fans unable to attend the event, real-time results will be available (see link above). The MWC Championships will feature all nine women's teams, as well as the men's teams from Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, TCU and Wyoming.
SCHEDULING
Wednesday's action will begin at noon with the first four events of the women's heptathlon. The opening five events of the men's decathlon will begin at 12:30 p.m. The multi-event competition concludes on Thursday, with the final five events of the decathlon at noon and the last three heptathlon events at 12:30 p.m. Friday's action begins at 10 a.m., with the women's hammer throw, while the running events get underway at 1:30 p.m., with the women's 3000-meter steeplechase. Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m., with the women's javelin throw and the men's shot put, while the women's 4x100-meter relay opens the running events at 11:30 a.m. (A complete schedule can be found on page two of this release.
HISTORY 101
The men's team has finished within the top three at the conference championships during eight of the last 11 years, including three as the MWC runner-up. The women's best finish (sixth) came in 2003. In all, the program has accounted for 38 outdoor champions and 127 all-conference selections.
THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR
The competition site won't be too unfamiliar to Air Force, as the Falcons have competed at Colorado State's Jack Christiansen Track during each of their last three team competitions. The majority of the squad competed at the Jack Christiansen Invitational (Apr. 23) and again at the Front Range Classic on May 1.
THE NATIONAL NEWS
Air Force has three athletes ranked among the top 20 of the national standings in their respective events. Justin Tyner is ranked third in the 3000-meter steeplechase (8:37.54) and 19th in the 1500-meter run (3:42.51), while Cale Simmons is ranked fifth in the pole vault (17'7¾"), while Noah Palicia is ranked 19th in the decathlon (7,385 points).
TYNER CLAIMS SECOND MWC ATHLETE OF THE WEEK AWARD
Justin Tyner was named the Mountain West Conference Athlete of the Week for the second time this season, after clocking the second-fastest steeplechase time in the country this season.
DID YOU KNOW?
Robert Drye (Mar. 22), Cale Simmons (Jan. 18, Feb. 22) and Justin Tyner (Apr. 12, May 2) have combined to earned the conference's Athlete of the Week award on five occasions this season. The five selections are the most in a single season by the men's team - and the second-most single-season awards for the entire program - since joining the Mountain West Conference.
OH, WHAT A NIGHT!
In his first 3000-meter steeplechase of the season, Justin Tyner clocked the second fastest time in the nation this season (8:37.54) at the Payton Jordan Invitational on May 1. Placing second among collegiate runners and 10th overall, Tyner shaved nearly four seconds off of his previous standard.
A LITTLE TRIVIA
Not only is Justin Tyner's steeplechase time of 8:37.54 the fastest in the conference this season by a whopping 14 seconds, it is the third-fastest time in Mountain West Conference history.
AIR FORCE WINS FRONT RANGE CLASSIC
Highlighted by six first-place finishes, the men's team won its third Front Range Classic title in four years on May 1. Two Falcons broke their own FRC meet records to win their respective events, as Conner Van Fossen won the javelin with a meet record throw of 219'5" and Cale Simmons cleared a meet record 17'2¾" to win the pole vault. Robert Drye (hammer throw, 194'10"), Zach Wood (high jump, 6'6¾"), Bryce Bergman (400-meter hurdles, 52.79) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Bergman, David Ptacek, Michael Craig and Matt Jones (3:15.57) rounded out the event winners for the Falcons.
ANOTHER SHATTERING PERFORMANCE
Emily Cotharn shattered her own record in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 61.52. Cotharn, who finished second at the Front Range Classic, cut over a half second off of her previous best time. It marked the third time in less than a month that the program record has been broken.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
In addition to setting FRC meet records, Conner Van Fossen and Cale Simmons guided their respective teammates to the top of the standings. Van Fossen paced four Falcons to top-five finishes in the javelin. Tim Urista placed second (211'10"), while Nate Bratka and Jon Santiago finished fourth (169'11") and fifth (167'5"), respectively. Air Force also swept the top three places in the pole vault. Simmons won the event, while Rob Simmons cleared the ninth-best clearance in Academy history (16'8¾") to finish second and Elliott Beski took third with a height of 15'2¼".
JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE...
Kyle Schwochow tossed a 55'7" in the shot put at the Front Range Classic to move into sixth on the program's all-time list, while James Cole moved into seventh on the program's discus throw list with a distance of 176'2".
ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE
Highlighted by two first-place finishes, the women's team finished third at the Front Range Classic on May 1. Kassie Gurnell set a meet record distance of 39'8¾" to win the triple jump, while Bizzy Mellado won the pole vault with a clearance of 11'11¾".
MAKING SOME ADJUSTMENTS
Emily Cotharn's Academy record in the 400-meter hurdles wasn't the only adjustment to the program's all-time top-10 list. Lesly Torres moved into a tie for third on the program's all-time high jump list with a clearance of 5'6", while Christina Burke recorded the ninth-best discus distance in program history (150'1"). In addition, the 4x400-meter relay quartet of Cotharn, Rachel Thomas, Bethany Gross and Tasha Mayne clocked the fourth-best time in Academy history at 3:51.83.
DOWN GOES ANOTHER RECORD
With a time of 9:44.64, the distance medley relay team of Alex Zubey, Chris Severino, Tyler Stanley and Jim Walmsley set a new Academy record at the Drake Relays on Apr. 30. Zubey clocked a 1200-meter time of 3:00.8, before handing off to Severino, who ran the 400-meter portion in 47.7. Stanley's 800-meter split of 1:49.9 gave Walmsley the baton for the final 1600-meter leg, which he finished in 4:06.3.
A QUICK HISTORY REVIEW
The Falcons' 2011 distance medley quartet broke the 1994 time of 9:45.43 that had been held by Nick MacFalls, Paul Gomez, Jeff Kuzma and Eric Mack. The previous program mark, which had been the oldest non-championship relay record in Academy history, featured an impressive group of runners that included All-Americans in Kuzma and Mack, as well as three runners that competed at the Olympic Trials as members of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program.
DID YOU KNOW?
Tyler Stanley has been a part of two record-setting distance medley relay teams this season. The senior, who ran the 800-meter split on the Apr. 30 relay, ran the leadoff (1200-meter) leg of the DMR that set the program's indoor record (9:32.06) in early March and advanced to All-America status at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
ON DECK...
Select Falcons will travel to Eugene, Ore., for the 2011 NCAA Championships - Preliminary Round on May 26-28.
Players Mentioned
