Braeden Holcombe Wins MW Decathlon

CLOVIS, Calif. – Backed by the fourth-highest total in program history, Air Force sophomore Braeden Holcombe captured the Mountain West Decathlon title this evening (May 11) at the outdoor track and field championships in California. Holcombe, who paced the Falcons to a 1-2 finish in the event, is the fourth Academy athlete to earn a MW title in the decathlon.

Holcombe had a strong day of competition on Thursday, accumulating a career-best 7267 points in the victory – a tally that bettered the program's 30-year-old Sophomore Class Record by nearly 100 points. Holcombe, who improved his overall score by 160 points during a 3450-point second day, was the meet's top scorer in the 110-meter hurdles (all-condition best of 14.69), long jump (career-best 138'2") and 1500-meter run (career-best 4:38.34). The sophomore also recorded the second-highest totals of the day in the pole vault (13'5¼", 645 points) and javelin throw (4:38.34, 609 points) – with the latter moving Holcombe into the top spot after he had closed the gap on Murphy during the day's first three events.

Murphy recorded a career-best 7108 points to finish second in the decathlon – a personal improvement of nearly 100 points, the eighth-highest tally in Air Force history, and a finish that marked the second-straight season that the Falcons have placed multiple decathletes on the podium. The senior opened the day with an 836-point performance in the 110-meter hurdles (15.11), before tallying 553 points in the discus throw (season-best 113'0"), 645 points in the pole vault (13'5¼"), 448 points in the javelin throw (132'7") and 622 points in the 1500-meter run (season-best 4:49.40).

It was a wire-to-wire victory for Air Force, as one member of the Falcons' pair held the top position through all 10 events and, with the completion of the decathlon, Murphy's 23'11½" from yesterday's long jump and Holcombe's 138'2" from today's discus throw are both new Air Force Decathlon Event Records, breaking the previous standards held by Brian Walsh (23'9" in 2007) and Michael Tibbs (135'6" in 2011), respectively. Murphy concluded his decathlon career with four Event records, as well as the best Day 1 total in program history.

Individual events also started tonight, under the lights of Veterans Memorial Stadium, with the men tallying three scoring finishes in the 10,000-meter run. Senior Ryan Ioanidis recorded a time of 31:15.80 to finish third in the 16-runner field and account for his third podium finish in as many events this year, while junior Ryan John placed fifth in his 10K debut (31:20.57) and senior Will Kitzhaber took seventh with a time of 31:24.34.

Backed by 18 points from the decathlon and 12 points in the 10,000-meter run, the men accumulated 30 points during the first day of scoring at the MW meet – a 12-point advantage over the rest of the field.

Championship scoring begins in earnest tomorrow (May 13), with Day 3 of the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Competition begins for Air Force with the men's hammer finals at 2:00 p.m. (PT) and can be watch live on TheMW.com and MW App.

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Players Mentioned

Braeden Holcombe

Ryan Ioanidis

Will Kitzhaber

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