Falcons Continue Action at Air Force Invitational

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – Four Falcons made improvements to the Academy Record Book this afternoon (Jan. 21), as the track and field team continued competition at the Air Force Invitational. As a team, the Falcons combined for 12 scoring finishes in the field events, while several runners collected advancing times in the qualifying rounds of the sprints and hurdles.

AIR FORCE TOP-10 MARKS
Men's Heptathlon: Wyatt Murphy, 5442 points (No. 2 all-time)
Men's Heptathlon: Braeden Holcombe, 5284 points (No. 6 all-time)
Women's 400-Meter Dash: Michelle Roca, 56.74 (No. 7 all-time)
Women's 200-Meter Dash: Taylor Rioux, 25.57 (No. 10 all-time)

Senior Wyatt Murphy and sophomore Braeden Holcombe kicked off the day with a bang, as they accounted for two of the six-highest heptathlon totals in Academy history. Murphy combined for 5442 points – the second-highest total ever at Air Force – to finish second in the 11-athlete event, while Holcombe tallied 5284 points to finish third in the meet, reset the program's Sophomore Class Record and move into sixth on the Academy's all-time standings.

The pair each registered a sub-event victory, as Murphy opened the day with a career-best 8.33 in the 60-meter hurdles and Holcombe closed the day with a personal-best 2:49.57 in the 1000-meter run. In between, Murphy cleared 12'9½" in the pole vault and ran to a 2:56.20 in the 1000, while Holcombe finished clocked an 8.43 in the hurdles and posted a career-high 14'5¼" in the pole vault.

Murphy and Holcombe were two of 12 Falcons to collect scoring finishes for Air Force on Friday.

Backed by a runner-up clearance of 6'9" from freshman Collin Schulz, the men accounted for five top-eight finishes in the high jump. Senior Jake Hall, sophomore Philip Hundl and freshman Jalan Rivers all registered matching clearances of 6'7¾" to finish fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, with Hundl and Rivers marks being career highs, and freshman Gabe Grim cleared 6'4¾" to tie for seventh and round out Air Force's stranglehold at the top of the 13-jumper event. In his first collegiate long jump, junior Cameron Harris equaled the 21st-best distance in program history to finish second in the 23-jumper event, while sophomore John Colizzi added a jump of 22'6¼" to finish fifth and round out the men's scorers on Friday.

Sophomore Katie Thompson paced a trio of Falcons to scoring finishes on the women's side, as she recorded a distance of 19'8" to finish second – out of 34 competitors – in the long jump. Senior Frankie Porambo and freshman Katie Schlather accounted for top-eight marks in the pole vault, as Porambo cleared a season-high 11'11¾" to finish seventh and Schlather tied for eighth with a height of 11'5¾".

In addition to today's field event finals, several qualifying races were held on the track, with two members of the women's team impacting the Academy Record Book during their respective races.

Senior Michelle Roca clocked the sixth-fastest 400-meter time in program history, as she raced to an advancing 56.74 finish in the qualifying round – claiming a fourth-place finish in the 20-runner field and becoming the second Falcon in as many weeks to impact the top-10 of the program's 400-meter standings. Freshman Taylor Rioux debuted in 10th on the Academy's all-time standings of the 200-meter dash, as she crossed the finish line in a time of 25.57 – just 0.13 shy of an advancing placement. In between her attempts on the long jump runway, Thompson earned an advancing spot in the 60-meter hurdles, as she clocked a time of 8.81 – her second-fastest mark of the year – to finish fourth in the 21-hurdler qualifier.

On the men's side, Air Force advanced four into the final of the 60-meter hurdles, while qualifying one runner into the final of the both the 200- and 400-meter events. Hundl and Harris finished third (career-best 8.12) and fourth (8.14), respectively, in the hurdles qualifier, while freshmen Seth Meador (sixth, 8.29) and Darek Hackett (seventh, 8.31) tallied personal-best marks to also advance into the eight-man final. Senior Sean Geither clocked a time of 22.12 in his first 200-meter race of the season to finish sixth in qualifying and advance to the final, while junior Zac Larrier posted a 400-meter debut of 49.18 to earn the same placement and a spot in tomorrow's final.

Larrier also raced in the first round of the 60-meter dash and was one of three Falcons to advance into the semifinal, as that race is the only event on the schedule with three rounds. Larrier, who clocked a time of 6.89 – the 25th-fastest time in program history – to finish fifth in the 34-sprinter prelim, while sophomores Jackson Connelly (11th, career-best 6.96) and John Eldridge (14th, debut 7.00) also qualified into the semifinal. Eldridge (ninth, 7.04) and Connelly (10th, 7.08) finished just outside of the top eight during the semifinal round, while Larrier did not compete due to the timing of the 400-meter qualifying.

Air Force, which currently leads the men's standings (49.50 points) and is ranked fourth on the women's side (10.50), returns to the Cadet Field House tomorrow (Jan. 22) for the final day of action at the Air Force Invitational. Action begins for the Falcons at 1:00 p.m. (MT).

Falcons Continue Action at Air Force Invitational

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Players Mentioned

John Colizzi

Jackson Connelly

Sean Geither

Gabe Grim

Darek Hackett

Jake Hall

Cameron Harris

Braeden Holcombe

Philip Hundl

Zac Larrier

Seth Meador

Wyatt Murphy

Frankie Porambo

Taylor Rioux

Jalan Rivers

Michelle Roca

Katie Schlather

Collin Schulz

Katie Thompson

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