Sprinters Impact Record Book at Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. – Three Air Force sprinters impacted the program's all-time standings today (Feb. 2), as the track and field team wrapped up competition at the Colorado Invitational in Boulder. Senior Sedacy Walden highlighted the trip with a pair of improvements to the Academy record book, while junior Terrell Bradford and sophomore Zachary Dicken also accounted for top-10 marks during today's action.

Walden moved into sixth on the program's all-time standings of the 400-meter dash after recorded a personal-best time of 47.49 to finish second out of 50 runners in that event. Dicken added a time of 47.74 to finish fourth in the meet and debut in a tie for ninth on the Academy's top 10. Walden and Dicken were two of four Falcons to finish among the top 10 of the meet, as junior Michael Rhoads finished seventh (47.97) and sophomore Luke Zuluaga placed ninth with a time of 48.43.

Bradford registered a time of 21.53 – the ninth-fastest time in Air Force history – to finish second out of 54 runners in the 200-meter dash, while Walden finished just 0.01 second back (21.54) to take third in the field and debut in a tie for 10th on the program's all-time standings. The pair led the Falcons to five of the top-eight finishes in that event, as senior Miguel Molas (season-best 21.74, fifth), Dicken (21.79, sixth) and senior Reece Pontious (21.89, eighth) also had strong showings in that event.

Bradford added a second top-five finish on the day, as he took fifth in the finals of the 60-meter dash. The junior, who posted the fastest collegiate time in the 39-sprinter preliminary round (6.87, second overall), clocked a time of 6.94 to finish fifth in the final. Junior George Brown also scored the Falcons in that event, as he finished sixth in the final with a time of 6.97.

Senior David Collins captured an event title for the Falcons, as he posted a season-best time of 8.10 to win the finals of the 60-meter hurdles. Collins, who finished third in the 24-hurdler preliminary round (8.19), bettered the rest of the eight-man final by 0.05 seconds.

Seniors Gordon Kowalkowski and Preston Roche collected a pair of top-five finishes in the 800-meter run, while junior Justin Weber and sophomore Colin Dwyer placed among the top-10 of their respective events. Kowalkowski posted a career-best time of 1:52.46 to finish fourth out of 39 runners in the 800-meter event, while Roche accounted for a personal-best time of 1:53.26 to finish fifth. Weber clocked a career-best 5000-meter time of 15:21.49 to finish 10th out of 39 runners, while Dwyer accounted for the same placement in the 50-member mile after posting a personal-best time of 4:21.40. The 4x400-meter relay squad rounded out the men's list of top-10 times, as they finished third with a mark of 3:19.24.

The men tallied 110 points over the two-day meet to finish second in the 19-team event – a total that was just five points out of first and on that separated the Falcons from the rest of the field by 40 points.

Juniors Megan Irvine and Swathi Samuel paced the women during Saturday's track events, as Irvine nabbed a pair of top-10 finishes and Samuel recorded the squad's highest placement of the day. Backed by season-best times, Irvine placed fourth out of 46 athletes in the 400-meter dash (56.91) and 10th out of 63 athletes in the 200-meter event (25.56). In her first indoor 5000-meter event, Samuel registered a time of 18:04.83 to finish third in the 22-runner event – and pace Air Force to a pair of top-five finishes.

Sophomore Mahala Norris – in her first race of the season – posted a time of 18:15.14 to join Samuel in the top-five of the 5000-meter run (fifth), while senior Shanna Burns recorded a season-best time of 5:04.72 to finish seventh out of 47 runners in the mile. The women's 4x400-meter relay also accounted for a top-10 finish, as the quartet combined for a time of 4:02.86 to finish ninth.

The women recorded 20 points to finish ninth out of 24 groups – and ahead of two conference teams.

The Falcons return to action next weekend (Feb. 8-9), when the squad splits up for three competitions. The majority of the team will travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the Texas Tech Shootout, while select members of the distance squad will race at the annual Husky Classic in Seattle. The remainder of Air Force's team will compete at the Mountain Lion Open in Colorado Springs.

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Players Mentioned

Terrell Bradford

George Brown

Shanna Burns

David Collins

Zachary Dicken

Colin Dwyer

Megan Irvine

Gordon Kowalkowski

Miguel Molas

Mahala Norris

Reece Pontious

Michael Rhoads

Preston Roche

Swathi Samuel

Sedacy Walden

Justin Weber

Luke Zuluaga

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