Air Force Academy
MW Championships
Air Force Opens Action at MW Championships
2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Results: Men's MW Championships (Thursday) 
| Results: Women's MW Championships (Thursday)
Photo Gallery 
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Air Force track and field team kicked off the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships today (Feb. 23) in Albuquerque, N.M., with two scoring finishes in the distance medley relay and one addition to the Academy record book.
The men's squad of sophomore Noah Riley, classmate David Collins, junior Zac Petrie and sophomore Jacob Bilvado claimed the Falcons' first points of the meet, as they finished fourth in the distance medley relay -- the men's first final -- with a time of 10:08.24.
After one event, New Mexico leads the men's standings with 10 points. Utah State and No. 11 Colorado State are ranked second (eight) and third (six), respectively, while Air Force (fourth, five), Boise State (fifth, four) and Wyoming (sixth, three) round out the team standings.
In their first distance medley relay together, the women's quartet of junior Katie Burnham, freshman Kelsey Owens, freshman Swathi Samuel and freshman Lindsey Blanks clocked the eighth-fastest time in Academy history (12:05.02, adjusted for altitude; 12:16.16 actual) to finish eighth in the team standings.
After two events in the women's championship, New Mexico (14) holds a four-point advantage over Utah State, Fresno State and Boise State, who are all tied for second with 10 points each. UNLV is in fifth with eight points, while San Jose State and Nevada are tied for sixth (seven points each) and Colorado State (eighth, five), Wyoming (ninth, four), San Diego State (10th, two) and Air Force (11th, one) round out the team standings.
Registering 3323 points, senior Alexa Chacon finished 12th in her final pentathlon. Chacon posted a pair of top-10 event finishes, as she placed fifth in the 800-meter run (2:26.57) and sixth in the high jump (5'2¼"). The senior rounded out her pentathlon score in the shot put (11th, 32'10½"), 60-meter hurdles (12th, 9.39) and long jump (14th, 15'10¼").
In addition, three members of the men's team also opened competition in the heptathlon today. Sitting in fourth with 2929 points -- a score just three points shy of the top three, junior Calvin Berstler is the Falcons' leader after four events. Classmate Tyler Berson is in fifth with 2639 points, while sophomore Walker Newell is in sixth with 2549 points.
Berstler, who was the Falcons' top performer in three events, collected a pair of career-best marks and one season-best tally on the day. He cleared a career-best 6'6¾" to take second in the high jump, while earning fourth-place marks on the 60-meter dash (career-best 7.12), long jump (season-best 21'5¼") and shot put (38'0¼").
Berson earned fifth-place scores in the long jump (20'7¼"), shot put (35'10") and high jump (career-best 5'11½"), while collecting a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter dash (career-best 7.22). Newell, competing in his first conference heptathlon, won the 60-meter dash in 6.97, before posting career-best marks to take sixth in the long jump (20'4¼"), shot put (35'5") and high jump (5'4½").
Berstler, Berson and Newell return to the Albuquerque Convention Center at 10:00 a.m., tomorrow (Feb. 24) for the final three events of the heptathlon, while the rest of the squad begins competition at the MW Indoor Track and Field Championships at 12:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
