Sam Gilman Crushes Another Academy Record

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – Junior Sam Gilman crushed the Academy Record in the mile run this afternoon (Jan. 22), as the track and field team wrapped up action at the Air Force Invitational. Gilman, one of two Falcons to impact the program's Top 10 on Saturday, helped the men their fourth-straight AFI team title, while the women, backed by a pair of runner-up marks, placed fourth in the team standings.

AIR FORCE TOP-10 MARKS
Men's Mile Run: Sam Gilman, 3:57.52a (ACADEMY RECORD)
Men's Triple Jump: LaShawn Taylor, 49'10" (No. 6 all-time)

FIRST-PLACE FINISHES
Men's Mile Run: Sam Gilman, 4:06.84
Men's Triple Jump: LaShawn Taylor, 49'10"

Gilman, who shattered the Academy's 5000-meter record in his last outing on the track, added his name to the top of another Air Force Record, as he cruised to a winning time of 4:06.84. With senior Garrett Blenkush running in the pace position, Gilman deleted nearly three seconds from the six-year-old Facility and Meet records of 4:09.19. That time, when converted to 3:57.52a for the altitude of the Academy, also knocked two seconds off the Academy Record and nearly three seconds off the Junior Class Record.

The junior paced the men's milers to four of the 25-fastest times in Air Force history and a sweep of the scoring finishes. The converted times of classmate Scott Maison (4:04.96a, No. 13/4:14.58 raw), freshman Bryce Lentz (4:07.49a, No. 19/4:17.21 raw) and senior AJ Kedge (4:08.25a, No. 24/4:17.99 raw) all impacted the top 25, while their raw times were second, third and fourth, respectively. Senior Ryan Ioanidis finished fifth with an actual time of 4:18.92, while junior Ethan Marshall (sixth, 4:19.92), senior Will Kitzhaber (seventh, 4:21.13) and senior Matt Zacharias (eighth, 4:21.62) rounded out the top eight.

Senior LaShawn Taylor continued to climb toward the 50-foot mark in the triple jump, as he registered a career-best leap of 49'10" to win the event by nearly five feet and move up into sixth on the program's all-time list. Taylor was one of two Falcons to score in that event, as sophomore John Colizzi added a fifth-place jump of 44'7½". Senior newcomer Will Broadus recorded a career-best throw of 53'0" to finish fourth in the shot put – and debut in 21st on the Academy's Top 25, while freshman Robert Postell and senior Ethan Gardner rounded out the Falcons' field scorers by finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the pole vault following matching clearances of 16'0¾" – a career-best for Postell.

Backed by a fourth-place time of 8.09 from junior Cameron Harris, Air Force accounted for four of the eight scoring finishes in the 60-meter hurdles. Sophomore Philip Hundl and freshman Seth Meador finished fifth (8.17) and sixth (8.50), respectively, while freshman Darek Hackett finished eighth after suffering a fall in the race. Hundl returned to the track in the mile relay and used a thrilling anchor leg to edge his CSU counterpart and help his running mates – senior La'akea Aiu, senior Sean Geither, junior Zac Larrier – to a third-place time of 3:18.78 (a finish that was second in team scoring).

Larrier and Geither also scored for the men in individual events, as Larrier clocked a fourth-place time of 48.62 in the 400-meter dash and Geither clocked a fifth-place time of 22.10 in the 200-meter dash. Freshman Jason Renze rounded out the men's scoring with a runner-up time of 2:01.28 at 800 meters.

The men tallied 149.50 points to take first in the nine-team meet – and capture their fourth-straight team title at the Air Force Invitational. Former conference opponent BYU took second with 74 points, while Long Beach State (67 points) edged current Mountain West foe Colorado State (63) for third. Weber State rounded out the top five with 36 points, while Western Colorado (30), Colorado (21.50), MSU Denver (13) and Houston Baptist (10) completed the field.

Backed by a trio of freshmen, the Air Force women accounted for multiple scoring finishes in the mile. Tiaree Towler clocked an indoor debut of 5:17.61 to place second, while classmates Sydney Weaber and Halle Hamilton finished third (5:21.48) and fourth (5:23.22), respectively. Senior Adrianna Wilder finished sixth with a time of 5:28.82 and sophomore Rebecca Wusinich rounded out the scoring with a seventh-place time of 5:35.17.

Senior Michelle Roca scored for the Falcons in a pair of events on Saturday, as she clocked a sixth-place time of 56.88 in the 400-meter dash and ran the second leg of the mile relay that took second in 3:56.21 (freshman Taylor Rioux, sophomore Zoe Iwu, sophomore Amanda Fraga). Sophomore Katie Thompson captured a third-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (8.81) and senior Ari Martinez rounded out the women's scoring lineup with a fourth-place clearance of 5'7" in the high jump.

The Falcons combined for 58.50 points to finish fourth in the 11-team women's competition. Colorado State won the meet with 113.5 points, while BYU and Long Beach State finished second (94) and third (88.50), respectively. Colorado finished just six points behind Air Force (52.50), while Hawaii added 49.50 points to finish sixth. Western Colorado finished seventh with 32.50 points, while Weber State finished eighth with 19 points, Houston Baptist tallied eight points to place ninth and runners from Southern Utah and MSU Denver tied for 10th with three points each.

Air Force splits for competition – and leaves the state of Colorado – for the first time next weekend. Part of the team travels to Lubbock, Texas, for the Texas Tech Open on Jan. 28-29, while the rest of the squad heads back to Boulder for the Colorado Invitational.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

La‘akea Aiu

Garrett Blenkush

John Colizzi

Amanda Fraga

Ethan Gardner

Sean Geither

Sam Gilman

Darek Hackett

Halle Hamilton

Cameron Harris

Philip Hundl

Ryan Ioanidis

Zoe Iwu

AJ Kedge

Will Kitzhaber

Zac Larrier

Bryce Lentz

Scott Maison

Ethan Marshall

Ari Martinez

Seth Meador

Robert Postell

Jason Renze

Taylor Rioux

Michelle Roca

LaShawn Taylor

Katie Thompson

Tiaree Towler

Sydney Weaber

Adrianna Wilder

Rebecca Wusinich

Matt Zacharias

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