Air Force Academy
Air Force Team Challenge
Air Force Wraps Up Action at Team Challenge
2/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Seven first-place finishes and three additions to the Academy's top-10 list highlighted the night, as the Air Force track and field team wrapped up competition at the annual AF Team Challenge on Friday, Feb. 6, at the Academy's Cadet Field House.
Sophomore Darby Maier tossed a career-best mark of 57'2¼" to win the shot put and improve his #7 placement on the Academy's all-time list, while freshman Carina Gillespie clocked the fifth-fastest 800-meter time in program history (2:13.60, 2:12.05 adjusted for altitude) to finish as the runner-up in that race. In addition, junior Naomi Alston debuted in seventh on the Academy's all-time 200-meter list behind a personal-best time of 25.71 (fifth-place finish).
The men captured the top four spots in the pole vault, as well as the top two in the high jump. Senior Joey Uhle cleared 17'6½" to win the pole vault, while junior Dylan Bell took second with a height of 17'0¾". Sophomore Kyle Pater added nearly a foot to his personal-best clearance with a third-place jump of 17'0¾", and classmate Tyler Ginger rounded out the top four with a mark of 15'7". On the high jump, sophomore Taylor Smith and senior Kobi Bell finished first and second, respectively, with matching marks of 6'8¾" (season-high for Rex). Senior multi-event athlete Evan McDowell finished eighth in the pole vault with a career-best clearance of 14'1¼". Freshman John Reynolds added a top-six finish in the high jump, after finishing sixth with a mark of 6'6¾".
On the women's side, junior Katelyn Holland (46'1½") and senior Danielle Tabb (45'10¾") paced the Falcons to a one-two finish in the shot put, while sophomore Zoe Casteel picked up a first-place finish in the pole vault (12'3½"). Casteel led Air Force to four of the top-seven finishes in that event, as junior Riley Vann cleared 11'5¾" to finish third, freshman Hannah Durbin matched her personal-best of 10'11¾" to place sixth and sophomore Emily Smithwick used the same height (matching a career high) to finish seventh. The women picked up one additional first-place finish, as junior Angelea Ross won the triple jump behind a distance of 38'7½". Freshman Funmi Akinlosotu also accounted for a scoring finish in the triple jump after placing sixth with a mark of 34'9½".
On the track, the men's mile relay of freshman Jamiel Trimble, classmate Tyler Koss, junior Jordan McCool and sophomore Garrett Newman clocked a season-best time of 3:18.90 to win the final event of the night. Koss also scored for the Falcons in a pair of individual races, finishing second in the 400-meter dash (career-best 49.10) and third in the 200-meter dash (career-best 22.14). Newman joined Koss in the scoring places of the 400-meter dash after taking eighth in 50.05, while Trimble added a fourth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles following a personal-best time of 8.20.
The men claimed two of the top-three finishes in the mile, as senior Riley Coates finished second (4:22.10) in his 2015 indoor debut and sophomore Kyle Eller placed third with a time of 4:23.59. Air Force also earned multiple top-eight finishes in the 800-meter run, 3000-meter run and weight throw. Sophomore Grant Garst and freshman Colin Chehanske finished fifth (1:56.73) and eighth (1:58.88), respectively, in the 800-meter run, while freshmen Jimmy Shipley (third, 9:09.96) and Andrew Milliron (sixth, 9:22.25) earned top-six marks at 3000 meters. Another pair of freshmen scored in the weight throw, as Brooks Hardy and Reed McGuire used career-best marks to finish fifth (53'8 ½") and seventh (47'5"), respectively.
Senior Kyle Gartrell picked up a pair of top-five finishes from the horizontal jumps, as he finished third in the triple jump (season-best 47'4 ½") and fifth in the long jump (21'8¼").
Senior Erica Carson joined Alston among the top eight of the 200-meter dash (sixth, 25.85), while Alston added the same placement in the 400-meter dash (58.06). That pair also book-ended the Falcons' mile relay that finished third in a time of 4:03.00. Freshman Giulianna Vessa finished fourth in the mile (5:16.80), while sophomores Lindy Long and Alexa Chacon earned matching sixth-place finishes in the 3000-meter run (11:09.65) and 60-meter hurdles (season-best 8.94), respectively, and senior Morgan Malone clocked a season-best 7.90 to finish seventh in the 60-meter dash.
Air Force earned a pair of scoring finishes in the weight throw, as sophomores Cydnee Reese and Ashley Morgan finished fifth (49'6¼") and eighth (42'11¾"), respectively, behind personal-best distances. Sophomore Taelor Eyre added a top-eight finish in the high jump (seventh, 5'1") to round out the women's scoring finishers.
The men defeated Wyoming 198-168, while falling to Grand Canyon (224-186) and Utah Valley (222-183), and the women dropped dual meets to Grand Canyon (234-147), Utah Valley (255-152) and Wyoming (190-153).
The Falcons split up next weekend, as the team travels to three different meets, including the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., (Feb. 13-14), the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. (Feb. 13-14) and the Adams State Qualifier in Alamosa, Colo. (Feb. 14).
Players Mentioned
