Falcons Wrap up Action at Doug Max Invitational

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Two Falcons impacted the program's all-time standings this afternoon (April 14), as a small contingent of athletes from the Air Force track and field team wrapped up competition at the Doug Max Invitational in Fort Collins.

With an altitude-adjusted time of 11:35.83 (11:54.13 actual), freshman Sydney Hansen moved from ninth to eighth on the program's all-time standings in the 3000-meter steeplechase, while sophomore Addyson Smith debuted in the Academy's outdoor record book after posting the 10th-best shot put distance in program history (42'8¾"). Smith added four inches to her personal-best distance to finish within the top half of the shot put standings (fifth), while Hansen deleted nearly 13 seconds off of her previous best time to finish second in a small steeplechase field.

The Falcons earned an outright victory in the high jump from freshman Ari Martinez, who recorded a career-best clearance of 5'5¼" to win the six-jumper event. Martinez paced the women to a 1-2 finish in the high jump, as classmate Kendra Middleton registered a career-best distance of 5'3¼" to finish second.

Senior Garrett Coalson paced the men's lineup with a pair of top-five marks on Sunday, as he finished second out of 14 throwers in the shot put (season-best 52'2½") and fifth out of 19 throwers in the discus (157'6"). Coalson was one of two Falcons to place within the top half of the discus field, as freshman Jarod Pankau placed eighth with a toss of 150'5". Pankau also improved his distance in the javelin by nearly 20 feet during a runner-up finish (166'10"), while senior Victor Osinloye placed fifth in the hammer throw (178'2") and junior Chris Doerr cleared a season-best 15'0" to win the all-Air Force pole vault.

Freshman Will Kitzhaber was the top collegiate finisher in the 5000-meter run, clocking a 15:28.63 to finish third overall in his event debut, while classmate Matt Zacharias won the all-Air Force steeplechase behind a career-best time of 10:04.15 (9:48.67a). Another pair of freshmen clocked personal-best times to finish within the top half of their respective fields, as La'akea Aiu cut nearly two seconds off of his time in the 400-meter hurdles to finish second (54.60) and Garrett Blenkush made the same personal improvement during a third-place outing in the 800-meter run (1:56.70, 1:56.02a).

The Falcons head to California next weekend for a busy stretch of action, including competition at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate (April 18 in Long Beach), the Mt. SAC Relays (April 18-20 in Torrance) and the Beach Invitational (April 19-20 in Long Beach).

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