Throwers Lead Field Event’ers at Aztec Invitational

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Highlighted by the seventh-best shot put throw in Air Force history from senior Hayden Bullock, a handful of field event athletes wrapped up competition at the Aztec Invitational this evening (March 25) in San Diego.

AIR FORCE TOP-10 MARKS
No. 7 – Hayden Bullock, Shot Put (56'2¾")

In his first outdoor competition of the year, Bullock recorded a throw of 56'2¾" – a personal improvement of nearly five feet – to finish third in the meet and vault 17 spots to No. 7 on the Academy's all-time standings. It was one of two top-five finishes on the day for the senior, who added a season-opening throw of 178'7" to finish fourth out of 29 athletes in the discus.

Junior Gerrit Tamminga also had a strong season-opening weekend in San Diego, as he debuted on the Air Force Top 25 in both the hammer throw (191'9", No. 12 all-time) and discus throw (165'1", No. 23 all-time) – with the latter counting as a scoring finish for the Falcons. Tamminga also improved his distance in the javelin by more than four feet during a 174'4" outing.

Joe Nizich opened his sophomore season with a fifth-place throw of 209'2" in the javelin, while classmate Cooper Stroka (197'3", seventh) and senior Jaret Prete (season-opening 197'0", eighth) both scored for Air Force in the hammer throw.

Despite sending just a small contingent of field event athletes to this weekend's Aztec Invitational, the men accumulated 19 points to finish 13th in the full 25-team standings.

On the women's side, freshman Shayla Padilla recorded a career-best outdoor clearance of 5'3" to debut in a tie for No. 21 on the program's all-time high jump standings, while junior Kasarah Hernandez improved her career best in the pole vault to 11'2½" – a height that moved her into No. 24 outright on the Academy's Top 25.

The Falcons return to California next weekend (March 31-April 1) for the Mike Fanelli Track Classic and the Stanford Invitational.

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