Friday, February 21
USAFA
3:00 pm MT
Air Force Academy
vs
Air Force Collegiate Open
Photo by: Andrés Leighton, NCAA Photos
Falcons Set to Host Air Force Collegiate Open
2/19/2020 5:28:00 PM | Track and Field
Air Force's final home meet of the indoor season will begin at 3:00 p.m., on Friday.
The track and field team wraps up the home portion of its indoor season this weekend, when it hosts the Air Force Collegiate Open on Friday, Feb. 21. The meet, which will serve as the Falcons' final tune-up before next week's conference championship meet, is slated to begin inside the Cadet Field House Indoor Track at 3:00 p.m. (MT).
MEET INFORMATION
The Falcons' final home meet of the indoor season is slated to begin with two field events at 3:00 p.m., while running events will get underway two hours later (a complete schedule of events is listed below). The field will include athletes from Air Force, Colorado, Colorado Christian, Colorado College, Colorado State, Johnson & Wales, Northern Colorado and UCCS, as well as numerous unattached competitors. Admission will be free until 6:00 p.m. – fans arriving after the ticket office opens for the hockey game will be required to purchase a general admission ticket to that game. Live results will be available at GoAirForceFalcons.com/TrackFieldResults, while in-meet updates and Air Force highlights will be posted on the team's official Twitter account (@af_tfxc).
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
3:00 p.m.: Women's Weight Throw, followed by Men's Weight Throw, Women's Shot Put, Men's Shot Put; 3:00 p.m.: Men's Pole Vault, Women's Pole Vault; 4:00 p.m.: Women's High Jump, Men's High Jump; 4:00 p.m.: Men's Long Jump, Men's Triple Jump; 4:00 p.m.: Women's Long Jump, Women's Triple Jump; 5:00 p.m.: Mile Run, 60-Meter Hurdles, 400-Meter Dash, 60-Meter Dash, 800-Meter Run, 200-Meter Dash, 5000-Meter Run (women compete first in all running events)
LOOKING AROUND THE NATION
Highlighted by a No. 4 ranking in the 800-meter run from Michael Rhoads (1:47.65), four Falcons are listed among the nation's top 25. Maria Mettler holds a No. 12 ranking in the 5000-meter run (15:49.58), while Mitch Lipe and Greg Skage are tied for 21st in the pole vault behind matching clearances of 17'6½". In addition, the men moved up 10 spots in the USTFCCCA rankings to sit at No. 45 – their first top-50 appearance of the season – while the women vaulted up 41 spots to sit at 70th and earn their first top-100 ranking of the year.
SQUAD GOALS
The Feb 17 edition of the USTFCCCA #EventSquad rankings features four Air Force groups listed within the nation's top 25. The men's pole vault lineup sits at No. 4, while the men's triple jump is 22nd and the men's 5000-meter run is 24th. On the women's side, Air Force went from unranked to 14th in the 5000-meter run. The #EventSquad rankings are determined by using the cumulative season-best qualifying marks from a team's top-four athletes on the national descending order list.
AIR FORCE SWEEPS WEEKLY MOUNTAIN WEST TRACK AWARDS
After a fantastic weekend of racing at the Iowa State Classic, Maria Mettler and Michael Rhoads were named the Mountain West Track Athletes of the Week on Feb. 18 – marking the Falcons' first Track sweep of the season. It is the first career award for Mettler and the fifth for Rhoads.
NORRIS SHATTERS MILE RECORD AT IOWA STATE
Clocking a time of 4:41.65, Mahala Norris crushed the Academy standard in the mile run at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 15. Norris, the first Falcon to break a program standard this season, took nearly two seconds off of the previous mile record that had stood since 2017. The time, which also broke the Academy's three-year-old Junior Class Record, was third in a stacked field of 54 runners.
ALUMNI ALERT
Kyle Pater, a 2017 Academy graduate and member of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program, finished third in the pole vault at the USATF Indoor Championships with a clearance of 18'10¼".
COMING UP
The post-season begins for Air Force next week, when the Falcons make a return trip to Albuquerque, N.M., for the 2020 Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event, which begins on Thursday, Feb. 27, and runs through Saturday, Feb. 29, will be held at the ABQ Convention Center.
MEET INFORMATION
The Falcons' final home meet of the indoor season is slated to begin with two field events at 3:00 p.m., while running events will get underway two hours later (a complete schedule of events is listed below). The field will include athletes from Air Force, Colorado, Colorado Christian, Colorado College, Colorado State, Johnson & Wales, Northern Colorado and UCCS, as well as numerous unattached competitors. Admission will be free until 6:00 p.m. – fans arriving after the ticket office opens for the hockey game will be required to purchase a general admission ticket to that game. Live results will be available at GoAirForceFalcons.com/TrackFieldResults, while in-meet updates and Air Force highlights will be posted on the team's official Twitter account (@af_tfxc).
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
3:00 p.m.: Women's Weight Throw, followed by Men's Weight Throw, Women's Shot Put, Men's Shot Put; 3:00 p.m.: Men's Pole Vault, Women's Pole Vault; 4:00 p.m.: Women's High Jump, Men's High Jump; 4:00 p.m.: Men's Long Jump, Men's Triple Jump; 4:00 p.m.: Women's Long Jump, Women's Triple Jump; 5:00 p.m.: Mile Run, 60-Meter Hurdles, 400-Meter Dash, 60-Meter Dash, 800-Meter Run, 200-Meter Dash, 5000-Meter Run (women compete first in all running events)
LOOKING AROUND THE NATION
Highlighted by a No. 4 ranking in the 800-meter run from Michael Rhoads (1:47.65), four Falcons are listed among the nation's top 25. Maria Mettler holds a No. 12 ranking in the 5000-meter run (15:49.58), while Mitch Lipe and Greg Skage are tied for 21st in the pole vault behind matching clearances of 17'6½". In addition, the men moved up 10 spots in the USTFCCCA rankings to sit at No. 45 – their first top-50 appearance of the season – while the women vaulted up 41 spots to sit at 70th and earn their first top-100 ranking of the year.
SQUAD GOALS
The Feb 17 edition of the USTFCCCA #EventSquad rankings features four Air Force groups listed within the nation's top 25. The men's pole vault lineup sits at No. 4, while the men's triple jump is 22nd and the men's 5000-meter run is 24th. On the women's side, Air Force went from unranked to 14th in the 5000-meter run. The #EventSquad rankings are determined by using the cumulative season-best qualifying marks from a team's top-four athletes on the national descending order list.
AIR FORCE SWEEPS WEEKLY MOUNTAIN WEST TRACK AWARDS
After a fantastic weekend of racing at the Iowa State Classic, Maria Mettler and Michael Rhoads were named the Mountain West Track Athletes of the Week on Feb. 18 – marking the Falcons' first Track sweep of the season. It is the first career award for Mettler and the fifth for Rhoads.
NORRIS SHATTERS MILE RECORD AT IOWA STATE
Clocking a time of 4:41.65, Mahala Norris crushed the Academy standard in the mile run at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 15. Norris, the first Falcon to break a program standard this season, took nearly two seconds off of the previous mile record that had stood since 2017. The time, which also broke the Academy's three-year-old Junior Class Record, was third in a stacked field of 54 runners.
ALUMNI ALERT
Kyle Pater, a 2017 Academy graduate and member of the Air Force World Class Athlete Program, finished third in the pole vault at the USATF Indoor Championships with a clearance of 18'10¼".
COMING UP
The post-season begins for Air Force next week, when the Falcons make a return trip to Albuquerque, N.M., for the 2020 Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event, which begins on Thursday, Feb. 27, and runs through Saturday, Feb. 29, will be held at the ABQ Convention Center.
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