Falcons Split for Drake Relays, Jack Christiansen Invitational
4/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
The Air Force track and field team remains on the road this weekend, splitting its time between a pair of competitions. Part of the squad will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the 106th Drake Relays on April 23-25, while the rest of the team will compete at the Jack Christiansen Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo., on April 24-25.
Meet Notes 16: at Drake Relays, at Jack Christiansen Invitational 
MEET INFORMATION: DRAKE RELAYS
The prestigious Drake Relays, which officially kicked off yesterday with the Grand Blue Mile, will take place throughout the week at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. The meet, which features high school, collegiate and professional athletes, will begin in earnest at 4:00 p.m., on Thursday, April 23. Live results and a complete schedule of events are available under the Drake Relays' tab at GoDrakeBulldogs.com.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: DRAKE RELAYS | AIR FORCE ONLY
Thursday - 8:10 p.m.: Men's 10,000-Meter Run; 8:40 p.m.: Women's 5000-Meter Run; 9:05 p.m.: Men's 5000-Meter Run; Friday - 10:00 a.m.: Men's Javelin Throw; 12:30 p.m.: Men's Pole Vault; 1:00 p.m.: Women's Discus Throw; 1:30 p.m.: Men's Long Jump; 8:15 p.m.: Men's 4x800-Meter Relay; Saturday - 10:00 a.m.: Men's High Jump; 12:30 p.m.: Men's Distance Medley Relay; 1:00 p.m.: Women's Distance Medley Relay; 1:30 p.m.: Men's Shot Put
MEET INFORMATION: JACK CHRISTIANSEN INVITATIONAL
Colorado State's annual Jack Christiansen Invitational will be held over the April 24-25 weekend in Fort Collins (the track is located at the corner of Pitkin and College). The hammer throw will be contested at 3:00 p.m., on Friday, April 24, while the remainder of the meet will take place on Saturday, April 25, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (a complete schedule is below). Live results are not available for this meet.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: JACK CHRISTIANSEN INVITATIONAL | SATURDAY ONLY
10:00 a.m.: 5000-Meter Run, 4x100-Meter Relay, 1500-Meter Run, 110-/100-Meter Hurdles, 400-Meter Run; 10:00 a.m.: Women's Discus Throw, Men's Discus Throw, Women's Javelin Throw, Men's Javelin Throw; 10:00 a.m.: Men's Long Jump, Women's Long Jump, Men's Triple Jump, Women's Triple Jump; 10:00 a.m.: Women's High Jump, Men's High Jump; 10:00 a.m.: Men's Pole Vault, Women's Pole Vault; 11:00 a.m.: Men's Shot Put, Women's Shot Put; 1:00 p.m.: 100-Meter Dash, 800-Meter Run, 400-Meter Hurdles, 200-Meter Dash, 3000-Meter Steeplechase, 4x400-Meter Relay (men will compete first in all running events)
FOLLOW THE FALCONS ON TWITTER
Highlights from all meets will be available on the team's official Twitter feed - @af_trackfield.
HOME SWEET HOME
While the roster doesn't feature any Iowans this season, it does boast 15 athletes from the state of Colorado - Gabe Brown (Colorado Springs), Grant Caswell (Englewood), Alexa Chacon (Colorado Springs), Kyle Cotton (Ridgway), Hannah Everson (Colorado Springs), Nicole Hahn (Arvada), Zac Petrie (Arvada), Kobi Rex (Colorado Springs), John Reynolds (Denver), Casey Riggs (Loveland), Sydney Rohlwing (Highlands Ranch), Samantha Skold (Evergreen), Jackson Spalding (Colorado Springs), Giulianna Vessa (Arvada) and Connor Wilburn (Colorado Springs).
CORONA NABS TWO WEEKLY AWARDS
Following a career night in the 1500-meter run at the Bryan Clay Invitational, Patrick Corona was named the Mountain West Men's Track Athlete of the Week (April 22) and the Air Force Athlete of the Week (April 20). The junior clocked a career-best 3:43.17 to finish fifth in a field of 209 runners at the April 17 meet in Azusa, Calif., deleting more than a second off of his time to move into third on the Academy's all-time list and break the program's five-year-old Junior Class Record.
FAST FACT
Patrick Corona, who tallied a pair of MW awards in back-to-back weeks during the indoor season prior to his outdoor award on April 22, is just the second athlete in program history - and the first since Sara Neubauer in 2010 - to claim more than two weekly awards in a single season. For his career, the junior has four conference awards, which is tied for the second-most in program history.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
The all-time standings of the men's 1500-meter run received multiple improvements at the Bryan Clay Invitational, as Matt Dorsey debuted in ninth following a career-best time of 3:45.35.
BUSY WEEKEND
The top 10 of the women's pole vault received a major reworking over the April 17-18 weekend, as both Riley Vann and Zoe Casteel impacted the all-time list on back-to-back days. On Friday, Vann cleared 12'4" at the Bryan Clay Invitational to move into seventh, while Zoe Casteel debuted in 10th with a height of 11'9¾" at the Mt. SAC Relays. Vann and Casteel improved those marks the following day, clearing 12'6½" (sixth all-time) and 12'0½" (ninth all-time), respectively, at the Beach Invitational.
QUICK HIT
With her clearance of 12'0½", Zoe Casteel became the 10th vaulter in program history to surpass the 12-foot bar in outdoor competition.
TAKE A VICTORY LAP
The Falcons accounted for two event titles at the Beach Invitational on April 18. The 4x100-meter relay team of Chandler Myers, Jamiel Trimble, Jake Spuller and Zach Johnson clocked a season-best time of 41.12 to win that race, while Grant Hamilton tossed a season-best 60'3¾" to better 54 other throwers for the shot put victory.
FRESHMEN FIREPOWER
Carina Gillespie (1500-meter run) and Jamiel Trimble (110-meter hurdles) recorded new Freshman Class Records in their respective events over the April 17-18 weekend. Posting the third-fastest time in Academy history (4:23.65) at the Mt. SAC Relays, Gillespie took four seconds off of the previous Class Record (2005), while Trimble broke a 30-year-old Freshman Class Record in the 110-meter hurdles after clocking 14.48 at the Beach Invitational.
NOT TO BE LEFT OUT
The list of Sophomore Class Records also saw a pair of improvements on April 16-18, as Sydney Rohlwing rewrote her own Class mark in the 400-meter hurdles (62.44) at the Beach Invitational and Lindy Long broke the program's previous Sophomore standard (2011) in the 10,000-meter run following a time of 36:13.29 at the Mt. SAC Relays.
MAKING A STATEMENT
The top-10 standings of the women's 10,000-meter run have seen two improvements this season, as Hannah Everson broke the 24-year-old Academy record and Lindy Long posted the fifth-fastest time in Academy history. The two additions equal the same number of changes that list has seen in the last seven years combined.
GETTING HIS NAME OUT THERE
Kyle Eller added his name to the Bryan Clay Invitational record book on April 17, as he won the 5000-meter run with a Meet Record time of 14:15.66. Eller deleted 11 seconds from his previous best time to finish first in a race that featured over 100 runners.
WHAT'S ON DECK
The Falcons travel to Lawrence, Kan., next Saturday (May 2) for their final road meet of the regular season - the Jayhawk Classic at Rock Chalk Park.
Players Mentioned
