Michael Rhoads, Mitch Lipe Lead Falcons at Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, Texas – Junior Michael Rhoads won the 800-meter run and sophomore Mitch Lipe picked up a first-place finish in the pole vault, as members of the Air Force track and field team opened competition at the Texas Tech Shootout in Lubbock on Friday, Feb. 8. The pair paced the Falcons to 11 top-10 finishes during the first day of action at the nationally-recognized meet.

Rhoads clocked a season-best time of 1:49.82 to hold off the nation's No. 13 runner – Sven Cepus from top-ranked Texas Tech – and capture the 800-meter title during the Falcons' first official running event of the day at the Sports Performance Center. Rhoads, whose time was just shy of the Meet Record, was one of three Falcons to place within the top half of the 20-runner event, as seniors Gordon Kowalkowski and Preston Roche finished ninth (1:54.31) and 10th (1:54.32), respectively.

Lipe registered the second-highest clearance of his career – 16'4¾" – to win the pole vault and pace the Falcons to two of the top-three clearances in the open flight of that event, as senior Sam Hinegardner and junior Logan Grizzle recorded matching clearances of 15'5" to finish as part of a three-way tie for sixth. Junior Connor Stevens represented the Falcons in the A-Flight of the pole vault and registered a career-best clearance of 16'10" – a personal improvement of more nearly two inches – to finish 10th in the Elite field, which was won by former Academy standout and current WCAP member Kyle Pater.

Seniors Micah Fontaine and David Collins both advanced out of the 26-competitor preliminary round of the 60-meter hurdles and finished third (8.14) and sixth (8.27), respectively, in the finals. Junior Anthony Davis recorded a distance of 46'1¼" to finish 10th in the triple jump, while sophomore Tyler Gurchiek is seventh (2405) and freshman Matthew Walters is ninth (2371) after the first four events of the heptathlon.

The women earned a top-10 finish from sophomore Addyson Smith, who recorded a distance of 46'11 ½" to place 10th in the weight throw.

Air Force concludes action at the Texas Tech Shootout tomorrow (Feb. 9), beginning at 10:00 a.m. (CT). In addition, the Falcons will also wrap up action at the Mountain Lion Open in Colorado Springs and compete at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.