Falcons Open Action at MW Championships

CLOVIS, Calif. – The Air Force track and field team kicked off the 2021 Mountain West Outdoor Championships on Thursday (May 13), with three scoring finishes in the 10,000-meter run and a strong first day of action in the decathlon competition.

Senior Maria Mettler, competing in her first race in six months – and just her second 10,000-meter race ever, posted a time of 33:58.29 to finish fifth out of 20 runners in the first scoring event of the weekend. The men claimed points from both senior Alec Schrank and freshman Luke Combs, as Schrank clocked a time of 29:56.22 to finish sixth and Combs, competing in his first 10K, placed eighth in 30:04.81.

The first five events of the decathlon were also contested today, with junior Wyatt Murphy leading a trio of Falcons – and the entire field – with 3921 points after the opening day. Murphy started the day with a bang, tallying the fourth-fastest 100-meter time in Academy history to win the race by 0.63 seconds and tally a meet-opening 908 points. Crossing the finish line in a career-best time of 10.48, Murphy crushed the program and conference Decathlon Event Record of 18.84 that former Falcon Brian Walsh had held since 2007. The junior earned the top scores in two more events on Thursday, as he finished first in the long jump (23'1¾") and paced Air Force to a 1-2-3 finish in the 400-meter dash (48.63). He added a career-best matching clearance of 6'4¼" in the high jump and a distance of 33'6" in the shot put.

Freshman Braeden Holcombe, who is currently in fourth with 3609 points, collected a pair of career-best marks during his first conference championship, as he tied Murphy with a height of 6'4¼" in the high jump and clocked a 50.81 to help Air Force to the sweep of the top-three times in the 400-meter dash. Holcombe clocked his best all-condition time of 11.43 (+2.3 m/s wind) in the 100-meter dash, while also recording a 21'10" in the long jump and a 38'1¼" in the shot put.

Senior Tyler Gurchiek, who bookended the day with the "2" spot in Air Force's 1-2 finish in the 100-meter dash (career-best 11.11) and 1-2-3 finish in the 400-meter dash (50.80), is in seventh after five events with 2631 points. Contributing to his tally was a 20'6½" in the long jump, a 34'0" in the shot put and a 5'11½" clearance in the high jump.

Murphy, Holcombe and Gurchiek return to Veterans Memorial Stadium at 10:00 a.m. (PT) tomorrow (May 14) for the final five events of the decathlon. Individual events also get underway on Friday, with field events beginning at 3:00 p.m. and track events starting at 6:00 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Luke Combs

Tyler Gurchiek

Braeden Holcombe

Maria Mettler

Wyatt Murphy

Alec Schrank

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