Air Force Academy
MW Championships
Distance Runners Shine at MW Championships
5/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
May 13, 2016
CLOVIS, Calif. – Accounting for two of the top-three finishes in the men's race and two of the top-six placements in the women's race, the Air Force distance squad kicked off the scoring portion of the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which concluded its second day of competition in Clovis, Calif., on Thursday, May 12.
In the men's first scoring event of the championship meet, senior Patrick Corona and junior Kyle Eller finished second and third, respectively, in the men's 10,000-meter run. Corona, competing in his first 10,000-meter race, clocked a debut time of 30:08.25 – a time just 0.09 seconds behind the meet winner, while Eller, competing in his first 10K of the year, took third in 30:13.69. It is the second straight year that Air Force has claimed two of the top-three finishes in that race, as Eller and 2015 graduate Riley Coates earned top-three finishes at last year's meet.
The Falcons' long distance success continued into the next event, as junior Lindy Long became the first runner in program history to medal in the 10,000-meter run at a Mountain West Championship meet. Long, who finished third with the second-fastest time of her career (35:58.26), was joined on the medal podium by freshman Jaci Smith, who finished sixth (36:58.06) in her first 10K race. With that time, Smith also debuted in seventh on the Academy's all-time list and took nearly one minute off of the Freshman Class Record that had stood since 1979.
The scoring finishes from Long and Smith marked the first time Air Force had accounted for multiple scoring finishes in that event, while bringing the overall total of top-eight (scoring) finishers to seven.
Finishing eighth in the decathlon with 6274 points, sophomore Tyler Berson improved his career total in the decathlon by more than 100 points. His best finish of the day came in the pole vault, as he recorded a career-best clearance of 14'5¼" to finish second. In addition to adding more than five inches to his height in the pole vault, the sophomore also registered a personal-best mark of 128'10" in the javelin throw (ninth). Berson added a pair of seventh-place scores in the 110-meter hurdles (16.07) and 1500-meter run (4:45.00), while finishing 10th in the discus throw (105'4").
Junior Alexa Chacon continued to climb up the Academy's top-10 standings in the heptathlon, as she improved her career total by more than 100 points to move into third on the program's all-time list. Accumulating 4632 points, Chacon finished 10th in the heptathlon. The junior's best finish of the day came in the javelin throw, as she finished fourth with a distance of 115'6". She added an eighth-place time of 2:25.18, while finishing 16th in the long jump with a mark of 16'2½".
After two events of the conference championships, the Falcons are ranked third in both the men's and women's team standings, as the men recorded 15 points and the women accounted for nine on the opening day of scoring.
The 2016 Mountain West Championships begin in earnest tomorrow (May 13), as the remainder of the team begins competition at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The women's hammer throw begins at 3:30 p.m. (PT), while the running events get underway at 4:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
