Saturday, March 27
San Diego, Calif.
10:00 am MT
Air Force Academy
at
Aztec Invitational
Falcons Rewrite Record Book at Aztec Invite
3/27/2021 10:29:00 PM | Track and Field
Air Force made five improvements to its Top-10 event standings today in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Air Force track and field team made five improvements to the top-10 standings of the Academy Record Book this afternoon (March 27), during the final day of action at the Aztec Invitational in San Diego. Backed by two event titles and 24 scoring finishes, the men finished third in the tightly-contested team standings.
The all-time standings in both the men's and women's high jump received an update today, as juniors Jake Hall and Ari Martinez debuted on their respective top-10 lists. Hall cleared 6'10¾" – a personal-improvement of nearly four inches – to equal the 10th-best mark in program history and finish second in the 10-jumper event, while Martinez recorded a clearance of 5'7" to match the program's sixth-best height and claim a fifth-place finish in the meet.
With a fourth-place time of 1:01.98, classmate Michelle Roca clocked the sixth-fastest 400-meter hurdles time in Academy history, while senior Addyson Smith added nearly one foot to her distance in the shot put (45'4¼") to move up two spots in the Academy Record Book (seventh) and earn a sixth-place finish. Junior Frankie Porambo rounded out the record book additions – and helped the program's vertical jumpers account for three top-10 improvements – as she posted a pole vault clearance of 12'4½" to debut in 10th on the program's all-time standings.
Backed by career-best marks, juniors AJ Kedge and Ethan Gardner collected first-place finishes for the men today on the Aztrack Sports Deck. Kedge clocked a time of 9:57.07 to win the 3000-meter steeplechase by more than 20 seconds and Gardner cleared 16'10¾" to win the pole vault and lead Air Force to three scoring finishes in that event. Senior Greg Skage finished second with a matching 16'10¾" clearance, while junior Ryan Brown cleared his first 16-foot outdoor bar to finish sixth (16'0¾").
The pole vault was one of five events to see multiple Falcons finish within the top-eight scoring spots.
Backed by a third-place finish from freshman Teagun Glenn in his outdoor debut (193'9"), the men tallied three of the top-five marks in the javelin throw. Junior Nick Oesterling, competing in his first meet in nearly two years, finished fourth with a throw of 187'5", while classmate Jarod Pankau added more than seven feet to his personal-best distance (173'2") to finish fifth. Pankau was also one of two Falcons to score in the discus throw, as he (eight, 153'11") and sophomore Hayden Bullock (fourth, 167'3") both registered points in that event.
Like Pankau, junior LaShawn Taylor scored for Air Force in more than one individual event – and helped Air Force to multiple top-eight marks. After finishing fourth in the long jump with a career-best distance of 22'7¼", Taylor led Air Force to a 3-4 finish in the triple jump (freshman Brandon Lindner – fourth, career-best 46'1½"). In addition to Hall's runner-up finish in the high jump, freshman Philip Hundl finished eighth with an outdoor debut of 6'4¾", while junior Garrett Blenkush and senior Aric Kedge tallied career-best marks to finish third (1:51.54) and fifth (1:52.43), respectively, in the 800-meter run.
Juniors Wyatt Murphy (dash, 48.20) and La'akea Aiu (hurdles, 53.57) tallied career-best marks to finish fourth in their respective 400-meter events, while classmate Sean Geither finished fifth in the 200-meter dash (21.35) after deleting more than one second from his previous best time. Sophomore Cameron Harris clocked a time of 14.65 to finish fifth in his 110-meter hurdles collegiate debut, while classmate Jace Pittman rounded out the men's individual scorers with an outdoor shot put debut of 48'0" (seventh).
Both of the men's relays also accounted for scoring finishes on Saturday, as the 4x100-meter squad combined for the 15th-fastest time in program history (40.84) to place fifth and the 4x400-meter team notched the 25th-fastest time (3:13.11) during a fourth-place performance.
The men tallied 131 points to finish third in the men's team standings. Oregon, which won the NCAA Indoor title earlier this month, won the competition with 145 points, while Grand Canyon edged the Falcons by just 1.50 points (132.50). While just 14 points separated the top three teams, the Falcons maintained a 35-point advantage over the rest of the field, which included Pac-12 teams from Arizona (fourth, 96), USC (fifth, 85) and California (seventh, 70.50).
Freshman Alexxis Brown accounted for a scoring opportunity for the women during her debut in the javelin throw, as she recorded a distance of 124'11" to finish eighth.
The women finished the two days of scoring with 25 points, finishing ninth in the overall standings. USC won the meet with 127 points, while host San Diego State (120.50) edged Oregon (120) by a half point to round out the top three.
Smith, who finished sixth in the discus throw (career-best 148'1") this afternoon, also earned points for the women in the hammer throw, which was contested in Chula Vista on Friday evening. In her first meet in nearly two years, Smith recorded a distance of 152'4" to finish seventh in the 18-thrower field. The men also earned points in that event, as sophomore Jaret Prete recorded the 14th-best throw in program history (187'0") to finish sixth in his first collegiate outdoor meet.
The Falcons return to action next week, as they split for meets at Stanford (April 2-3) and Baylor (April 3).
The all-time standings in both the men's and women's high jump received an update today, as juniors Jake Hall and Ari Martinez debuted on their respective top-10 lists. Hall cleared 6'10¾" – a personal-improvement of nearly four inches – to equal the 10th-best mark in program history and finish second in the 10-jumper event, while Martinez recorded a clearance of 5'7" to match the program's sixth-best height and claim a fifth-place finish in the meet.
With a fourth-place time of 1:01.98, classmate Michelle Roca clocked the sixth-fastest 400-meter hurdles time in Academy history, while senior Addyson Smith added nearly one foot to her distance in the shot put (45'4¼") to move up two spots in the Academy Record Book (seventh) and earn a sixth-place finish. Junior Frankie Porambo rounded out the record book additions – and helped the program's vertical jumpers account for three top-10 improvements – as she posted a pole vault clearance of 12'4½" to debut in 10th on the program's all-time standings.
Backed by career-best marks, juniors AJ Kedge and Ethan Gardner collected first-place finishes for the men today on the Aztrack Sports Deck. Kedge clocked a time of 9:57.07 to win the 3000-meter steeplechase by more than 20 seconds and Gardner cleared 16'10¾" to win the pole vault and lead Air Force to three scoring finishes in that event. Senior Greg Skage finished second with a matching 16'10¾" clearance, while junior Ryan Brown cleared his first 16-foot outdoor bar to finish sixth (16'0¾").
The pole vault was one of five events to see multiple Falcons finish within the top-eight scoring spots.
Backed by a third-place finish from freshman Teagun Glenn in his outdoor debut (193'9"), the men tallied three of the top-five marks in the javelin throw. Junior Nick Oesterling, competing in his first meet in nearly two years, finished fourth with a throw of 187'5", while classmate Jarod Pankau added more than seven feet to his personal-best distance (173'2") to finish fifth. Pankau was also one of two Falcons to score in the discus throw, as he (eight, 153'11") and sophomore Hayden Bullock (fourth, 167'3") both registered points in that event.
Like Pankau, junior LaShawn Taylor scored for Air Force in more than one individual event – and helped Air Force to multiple top-eight marks. After finishing fourth in the long jump with a career-best distance of 22'7¼", Taylor led Air Force to a 3-4 finish in the triple jump (freshman Brandon Lindner – fourth, career-best 46'1½"). In addition to Hall's runner-up finish in the high jump, freshman Philip Hundl finished eighth with an outdoor debut of 6'4¾", while junior Garrett Blenkush and senior Aric Kedge tallied career-best marks to finish third (1:51.54) and fifth (1:52.43), respectively, in the 800-meter run.
Juniors Wyatt Murphy (dash, 48.20) and La'akea Aiu (hurdles, 53.57) tallied career-best marks to finish fourth in their respective 400-meter events, while classmate Sean Geither finished fifth in the 200-meter dash (21.35) after deleting more than one second from his previous best time. Sophomore Cameron Harris clocked a time of 14.65 to finish fifth in his 110-meter hurdles collegiate debut, while classmate Jace Pittman rounded out the men's individual scorers with an outdoor shot put debut of 48'0" (seventh).
Both of the men's relays also accounted for scoring finishes on Saturday, as the 4x100-meter squad combined for the 15th-fastest time in program history (40.84) to place fifth and the 4x400-meter team notched the 25th-fastest time (3:13.11) during a fourth-place performance.
The men tallied 131 points to finish third in the men's team standings. Oregon, which won the NCAA Indoor title earlier this month, won the competition with 145 points, while Grand Canyon edged the Falcons by just 1.50 points (132.50). While just 14 points separated the top three teams, the Falcons maintained a 35-point advantage over the rest of the field, which included Pac-12 teams from Arizona (fourth, 96), USC (fifth, 85) and California (seventh, 70.50).
Freshman Alexxis Brown accounted for a scoring opportunity for the women during her debut in the javelin throw, as she recorded a distance of 124'11" to finish eighth.
The women finished the two days of scoring with 25 points, finishing ninth in the overall standings. USC won the meet with 127 points, while host San Diego State (120.50) edged Oregon (120) by a half point to round out the top three.
Smith, who finished sixth in the discus throw (career-best 148'1") this afternoon, also earned points for the women in the hammer throw, which was contested in Chula Vista on Friday evening. In her first meet in nearly two years, Smith recorded a distance of 152'4" to finish seventh in the 18-thrower field. The men also earned points in that event, as sophomore Jaret Prete recorded the 14th-best throw in program history (187'0") to finish sixth in his first collegiate outdoor meet.
The Falcons return to action next week, as they split for meets at Stanford (April 2-3) and Baylor (April 3).
Players Mentioned
110m Hurdles / 400m Hurdles
/ Track and Field
800m
/ Track and Field
Long Jump / Heptathlon
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Discus / Shot Put
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
400m
/ Track and Field
Javelin / Discus / Shot Put
/ Track and Field
High Jump
/ Track and Field
110m Hurdles / 400m Hurdles
/ Track and Field
100m Hurdles / Decathlon
/ Track and Field
3000m Steeplechase
/ Track and Field
800m
/ Track and Field
Long Jump / Triple Jump
/ Track and Field
High Jump
/ Track and Field
Decathlon
/ Track and Field
Javelin
/ Track and Field
Discus / Javelin
/ Track and Field
Discus / Hammer
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Hammer / Discus / Shot Put
/ Track and Field
400m Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Discus / Shot Put / Hammer
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