Zach Johnson, Shelley Spires Earn Weekly MW Honors
12/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Two members of the Air Force track and field team were honored by the Mountain West this afternoon (Dec. 13), as senior Zach Johnson was named the MW Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week and junior Shelley Spires was named the MW Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Week. It is the second weekly conference award for Johnson and the third for Spires.
Johnson kicked off the season with a pair of record-setting performances at the Air Force Holiday Open on Dec. 9. The native of Farmington, N.M., won the 60-meter dash in a career-best time of 6.73 – a mark that bettered the rest of the 45-runner field by 0.12 seconds, broke the Academy's nine-year-old school record by 0.01 seconds and shaved 0.05 seconds off of an Air Force Senior Class Record that had stood for 28 years. Johnson also broke the program's two-year-old record in the 300-meter dash after finishing second out of 35 runners in a time of 34.37. The senior currently leads the conference in both events, while holding top-eight rankings in the NCAA (fourth at 60 meters, eighth at 300 meters).
Spires also notched an Academy record during the season-opening meet on Dec. 9, as she cleared 5'11¼" to easily win the high jump and reset the program standard that she previously shared. That clearance – which is the second-highest clearance in the nation so far this season – bettered the field by more than six inches and set a new Air Force Holiday Open meet record. The native of Mobile, Ala., also added over three inches to the Academy's Junior Class Record that had remained unchanged since 1986.
The pair shared the first conference award of the 2016-17 season with Colorado State's Hunter Price (men's field athlete of the week) and Wyoming's Jerayah Davis (women's track athlete of the week).
Air Force returns to action on Jan. 14, when they travel to Boulder, Colo., for the Potts Invitational.
Players Mentioned
