Falcons Continue Action at Air Force Invitational

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – The track and field team continued competition at the Air Force Invitational this evening (Jan. 25) with three finals and several qualifying races.

Junior Connor Stevens collected a top-five scoring finish today, as he tallied 4628 points to finish fourth in his first collegiate heptathlon. Backed by a winning clearance of 15'9" in the pole vault, Stevens jumped from seventh to fourth in the overall standings during the second day of action. The junior completed his scoring line with a 9.68 in the hurdles (12th) and a 3:13.13 in his first 1000-meter run (10th).

Qualifying races were contested today for all of the sprint and hurdle events, with Air Force advancing 12 runners into tomorrow's semifinal and final rounds.

Highlighted by three top-five finishers in the 42-runner preliminary round, the men qualified five runners into the semifinals of the 60-meter dash. Senior Miguel Molas and junior Terrell Bradford paced the contingent, as they placed second (6.88) and third (6.89), respectively. Junior George Brown tallied a time of 6.91 to finish fifth, while senior Reece Pontious (13th) and sophomore Zachary Dicken (15th) also advanced into the 16-runner semifinal with matching times of 7.01.

In addition to their qualifying spots in the 60-meter dash, Pontious and Dicken also advanced into the finals of the 200-meter dash after posting two of the top-three times. Pontious matched his personal-best time of 21.75 to win the 43-runner preliminary round, while Dicken posted a personal-best time of 21.82 to finish third.

The Falcons also advanced multiple runners in the two remaining events. In his first 400-meter event of the season, senior Sedacy Walden registered a time of 47.93 to win the 26-runner prelim, while sophomore Luke Zuluaga and sophomore Terrell Davis finished second (49.35) and eighth (50.08), respectively, to advance into tomorrow's eight-man final. Senior David Collins and freshman La'akea Aiu earned a place in the semifinal of the hurdle event, as Collins posted a time of 8.24 to finish fifth and Aiu placed 12th with a mark of 8.78.

On the women's side, senior Aryn Maxwell and junior Megan Irvine will represent Air Force in the finals of the 400-meter dash, as the pair finished sixth (58.55) and seventh (58.71), respectively, in the 22-runner preliminary round.

Two non-scoring, B-Flight events also took place today, with Air Force combining for four top-five marks. Sophomore Mitch Lipe posted a career-best clearance of 16'6¾" to win the 23-jumper pole vault and pace the Falcons to a 1-2 finish, as classmate Greg Skage cleared a personal-best 16'0¾" in his indoor debut to tie for second. On the women's side, fellow sophomore Kathleen Medill matched her career-best of 5'5" to finish fifth in the high jump and freshman Erika Willis equaled her personal-best clearance of 11'11¾" to earn the same placement in the pole vault.

The Falcons close out the 2019 Air Force Invitational tomorrow (Jan. 25), beginning at 11:30 a.m. (MT).

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