Air Force Set to Open Action at NCAA Championships
5/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Meet Notes 17: at NCAA Outdoor Championships, West Preliminary 
A program-record 28 members of the Air Force track and field team will travel to Austin, Texas, this week for the West Preliminary of the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The three-day event, which will be held at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the University of Texas campus, will run from Thursday, May 25, through Saturday, May 27.
MEET INFORMATION
The NCAA West Preliminary will be held in Austin, Texas, for the second time in three years. A complete schedule of events for the Falcons can be found on Page 2 of this release. Live stats will be available for all three days of competition, courtesy of the NCAA, while a webcast will run through TexasSports.com. Additionally, in-meet updates regarding Air Force will be available on the team's Twitter page (@af_trackfield).
HOW THIS WORKS
The 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin this week at two preliminary sites (West Region – Austin, Texas; East Region – Lexington, Ky.). Each region features the top 48 declared athletes in each event, with the exception of the relays (top 24 teams). The top 12 finishers from each event at the two preliminary sites will advance to the final site of the national meet – Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. – on June 7-10.
BY THE (RECORD-BREAKING) NUMBERS
The Falcons qualified 18 men, eight women and two relays to compete in 23 different events at the NCAA West Prelim. The 31 total bids are the most for the Falcons since Regional Qualifying began in 2003, easily surpassing the previous highs of 26 (under the four-region setup, 2003) and 25 (under the two-region setup, 2013). The 18 men selected for individual events is a new program record, while the eight female qualifiers are the most since the 2003 team also sent eight athletes to the regional meet.
WHAT TO WATCH
The men qualified multiple athletes in five events, including the javelin throw (Donny Crabill, Eric Hoff, Taylor Hulslander), 200-meter dash (Zach Johnson, Jamiel Trimble), 400-meter dash (Tyler Koss, Sedacy Walden), 10,000-meter run (Kyle Eller, Andrew Johnston) and 110-meter hurdles (Micah Fontaine, Trimble), while the women received multiple qualifiers in the 1500-meter run (Carina Gillespie, Giulianna Vessa) and 10,000-meter run (Lindy Long, Jaci Smith). The Falcons will be represented in both the men's and women's high jump (John Reynolds, Shelley Spires), pole vault (Kyle Pater, Kathryn Tomczak), 5000-meter run (Jacob Bilvado, Long), 1500-meter run (Matt Dorsey, Gillespie, Vessa) and 400-meter dash (Megan Irvine, Koss, Walden), as well as the 100-meter dash (Johnson), 800-meter run (Michael Rhoads), 1400-meter hurdles (Chip White), 3000-meter steeplechase (Andrew Milliron), shot put (Darby Maier) and discus throw (Cydnee Reese). Air Force will also compete in the 4x100-meter (Robbie Anderson, Terrell Bradford, Johnson, Trimble) and 4x400-meter (Koss, Trimble, Walden, White) relays.
WHO TO WATCH
Four Falcons are listed among the top 10 of the West Region, including Shelley Spires, who is ranked second in the high jump (6'1½"). Kyle Pater is listed seventh in the region's pole vault standings (18'0½"), while Taylor Hulslander is ranked ninth in the javelin throw (236'5"). Jamiel Trimble is listed among the top-10 in a pair of events, holding the No. 9 mark in the 110-meter hurdles (13.72) and the No. 10 time in the 200-meter dash (20.33).
DID YOU KNOW?
With a program-record 22 entries into the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the men are ranked among the national leaders, in terms of total entries. With bids for eight sprints/hurdles, two middle distances, four distances, two relays, two jumps and two four throws, Air Force is tied for eighth in an overall field that includes 230 total programs. In addition, the men are ranked second among programs not in a Power 5 conference and the eight bids into the sprints and hurdles are the sixth-most in the NCAA.
THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR
Matt Dorsey will be making his fourth-straight trip to the opening round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1500-meter run.
MEN CLAIM MOUNTAIN WEST OUTDOOR TITLE
Bettering the field by 53 points, the men successfully defended their title at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships. The Falcons scored in all 21 events – a first in Academy history – while earning individual titles in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash, 110-meter hurdles, 4x100-meter relay and pole vault.
BUILDING A LEGACY
The men's track and field team has accounted for six Mountain West titles since 2012. The total, which includes two indoor titles (2012, 2016) and four outdoor titles (2012, 2013, 2016, 2017), is three more than all other Academy programs combined. And, as the school's overall total includes two conference championships in men's cross country (2003, 2015), the Falcons' track, field and cross country program has accounted for eight of the Academy's nine Mountain West titles.
BY THE NUMBERS
Air Force accumulated 218.50 points at the conference meet – the most in a MW meet since 2006. In addition, the 53-point margin-of-victory is the most in a men's championship meet since 2010.
LINDEMAN NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR
After guiding Air Force to its fourth outdoor title in six years, Ralph Lindeman was named the Mountain West Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year – marking the sixth time that he has been honored with that award from conference coaching peers (2002, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017). It is the 12th overall MW award for Lindeman, as the Falcons' mentor has also been voted as the league's top indoor coach six times (2001, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016).
TRIMBLE REPEATS AS THE LEAGUE'S TOP CHAMPIONSHIP PERFORMER
After claiming a pair of individual titles, anchoring two all-conference relays and setting two Meet Records, Jamiel Trimble was named the Outstanding Performer of the Mountain West Outstanding Championships – marking the third time in as many championship meets that he has been named the Outstanding Performer (2016 outdoor, 2017 indoor, 2017 outdoor). In addition, Trimble is the first athlete in Mountain West history to earn the award in back-to-back outdoor meets – and just the second athlete to claim the honor more than once.
FALCONS NAB PROGRAM-RECORD 27 ALL-MW AWARDS
Air Force earned a program-best 27 all-conference honors at the Mountain West Championships. By finishing within the top-three of their respective events, the men captured 22 all-MW awards – a total that equals the output of the 2013 squad for the most in program history – while the five honors by the women are the most since 2012 – and tied for the program's second-highest single-meet output.
MAKING HISTORY
The women's 4x400-meter relay squad Kelsey Owens, Kaliyah Gorman, Alexa Chacon and Megan Irvine claimed the Academy's first conference medal in any outdoor relay, as they placed third at the MW Outdoor Championships. In addition to finishing two spots higher than any other time in program history, the quartet combined for the third-fastest time on the Academy's all-time list (3:44.10).
RECORDS WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN
Posting an Academy-record time of 3:05.92 at the conference championships, the men's 4x400-meter relay squad of Sedacy Walden, Chip White, Tyler Koss and Jamiel Trimble shattered the oldest record in the Academy archives. The quartet deleted more than three seconds from a program record that had stood since 1966.
AIR FORCE = AIR POWER
Air Force collected its sixth straight title in the outdoor pole vault, as Kyle Pater cleared 17'6½" to earn the conference championship. Pater, who became the third Academy vaulter in as many years to sweep the indoor and outdoor titles in that event, was one of two Falcons to medal in the championship meet, as Connor Stevens took third with a clearance of 15'7¾". The 2017 outdoor meet marked the 12th-straight time in a conference meet (indoors or outdoors) that Air Force has claimed multiple spots in the top-three. Since joining the Mountain West, Air Force has claimed 51 all-conference awards in the pole vault.
WHAT'S ON DECK
The 2017 collegiate season concludes in two weeks, when the top 12 finishers from each event at this week's two preliminary meets travel to Eugene, Ore., for the final round of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The four-day meet will be held June 7-10 at Historic Hayward Field.
Players Mentioned
