Track and Field Seniors Honored at Final Banquet
5/20/2018 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air Force track and field team's Class of 2018 were recognized this evening (May 20), during the program's annual Senior Night Social at the Academy. During the final team gathering of the season, head coach Ralph Lindeman and his staff honored its 25 seniors and handed out 12 awards.
Chip White was honored with the Gen Tad Oelstrom Award for Overall Excellence, which goes to the one member of the senior class that excels athletically, academically and militarily, while Robbie Anderson was presented with the fifth-annual Capt David Lyon Leadership Award, which was created in honor for Capt David Lyon, a 2008 Academy graduate and member of the Falcons' track and field team, who was killed in action in December of 2013.
White, the 2018 Mountain West champion in the 400-meter hurdles, also captured a pair of conference titles as a member of the 4x400-meter relay that finished first at both the indoor and outdoor championships this season. Ranked seventh on the program's all-time standings in the 400-meter hurdles (51.67) and a member of the record-setting indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relay teams, White also maintained strong GPA, MPA and PEA marks at the Academy. Anderson, a team captain in 2018, captured three Mountain West titles in the 4x100-meter relay and two Drake Relays titles in the 4x200-meter relay, while running on the program's record-setting relays in both events. Anderson was a nine-time scorer in individual events at the conference championships and collected a pair of all-MW honors this season, as he finished third in the 60-meter dash (indoors) and third in the 200-meter dash (outdoors).
Tyler Koss and Shelley Spires earned the MVP awards for their respective teams, while Carina Gillespie and John Reynolds were honored with the men's and women's Outstanding Competitor Award.
Koss captured five Mountain West titles during his career, winning the 400-meter dash three times (2016 outdoor, 2018 indoor, 2018 outdoor) and anchoring a pair of 4x400-meter relays (2018 indoor, 2018 outdoors), and collected 13 all-conference awards (five individual honors, eight as a relay member). He ran the fastest outdoor 400-meter time in 35 years – and the second-fastest mark in program history – with a 45.80 performance earlier this season, while posting the fifth-fastest indoor time (47.39) and running on the 4x400-meter relays that second Academy records during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Spires, a three-time All-American (first-team at 2017 indoors, second-team at 2017 outdoors, first-team at 2018 indoors) and three-time Mountain West champion (2016 outdoors, 2017 indoors, 2018 indoors), captured USTFCCCA Mountain Region Female Field Athlete of the Year honors twice (2017 indoors, 2017 outdoors). Clearing 6'1½" during both the indoor and outdoor seasons to set Academy records in the high jump, Spires is the Mountain West record holder in the indoor event and is ranked second on the conference Championship Meet standings for both seasons.
A team captain in 2018, Gillespie is the Academy record holder in the mile (4:43.02, adjusted for altitude) and 1500-meter run (4:16.51), while holding the second-fastest time in the 3000-meter run (9:26.25a) and the third-fastest time in the 5000-meter run (16:22.08a). During her career, which includes all four Class Records in the 1500-meter event, Gillespie has recorded eight top-five finishes at the MW Championships and has tallied more points (46.75) than any other female in program history. Reynolds, the Outstanding Performer of the 2018 Mountain West Indoor Championships, is a three-time conference champion (2018 indoor triple jump, 2018 outdoor triple jump, 2016 outdoor high jump) and 11-time all-conference selection for finishing within the top-three of the MW Championships. Setting Academy records in the triple jump during both the indoor and outdoor seasons (51'6¼" indoors, 51'2¼" outdoors), Reynolds broke the 50-foot barrier in five of six meets (the only MW athlete to surpass that mark).
Gillespie and Koss were also recognized with the program's two Outstanding Performance Awards, as Gillespie received the Gail Conway Award for her record-setting 4:16.51 in the 1500-meter run at the Bryan Clay Invitational and Koss earned the Alonzo Babers Award for posting the second-fastest 400-meter time in program history with a 45.80 – a mark that only trails the award's namesake on the program's all-time standings – at the NoCo Challenge.
Calvin Berstler, who recorded the fourth-best decathlon total in program history (7203) during a Mountain West title-winning performance on May 10, received the Laura Piper Ironman Award after contributing to the program in multiple events. A two-time all-conference selection in 2018 (third in heptathlon, first in decathlon), Berstler also scored for the Falcons at the conference meet in the 110-meter hurdles and competed in the high jump and pole vault during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Nicole Hahn and Jackson Spalding shared the Paul Gensic Resiliency Award after overcoming adversity throughout their careers. Hahn, who returned from several injuries to compete in the first three 10,000-meter races of her tenure this spring, impacted the program's all-time standings in every appearance and finished with the ninth-fastest time in Academy history (36:25.95), while Spalding posted career-best marks - and scoring finishes – in both the shot put (52'11") and discus throw (168'6") at the MW Outdoor Championships and added a top-eight finish in the shot put at the indoor conference meet. Zac Petrie, a scoring finisher for the Falcons in the 800-meter run during both of this year's indoor (fourth) and outdoor (seventh) conference meets, received the Arne Arneson Award for Dedication, while Andrew Johnston, a team captain who clocked the second-fastest 10,000-meter run (28:56.60) in Academy history at the Stanford Invitational this spring and already holds the program's seventh-fastest outdoor 5000-meter time (13:59.00), was honored with the Falcon Award for Spirit and Enthusiasm.
The Class of 2018 will graduate from the Academy on Wednesday, May 23, and be commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force, while the track and field season continues this weekend for nine members of the Falcons' senior class, as they travel to Sacramento, Calif., for the West Preliminary round of the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
2018 Senior Awards
Gail Conway Outstanding Performance Award: Carina Gillespie
Alonzo Babers Outstanding Performance Award: Tyler Koss
Paul Gensic Resiliency Award: Nicole Hahn, Jackson Spalding
Arne Arneson Award for Dedication: Zac Petrie
Falcon Award for Spirit and Enthusiasm: Andrew Johnston
Laura Piper Ironman Award: Calvin Berstler
Women's Outstanding Competitor Award: Carina Gillespie
Men's Outstanding Competitor Award: John Reynolds
Women's Most Valuable Athlete: Shelley Spires
Men's Most Valuable Athlete: Tyler Koss
Gen Tad Oelstrom Excellence Award: Chip White
David Lyon Leadership Award: Robbie Anderson
Players Mentioned
