Air Force Men Capture Two Titles at Drake Relays

DES MOINES, Iowa – One Academy Record, the best high jump in 26 years and a pair of Drake Relay titles highlighted the second day competition for Air Force at the famed track and field meet in Des Moines. In all, the Falcons made four improvements to the program's all-time standings on Friday (April 28) and marked just the third time since the team first attended the Relays in 1963 that the squad has accumulated multiple victory pennants in the same meet.

ACADEMY RECORD
Men's 4x1600-Meter Relay (16:23.31)

The Falcons earned their first Victory Lap in record-setting fashion this morning, as the 4x1600-meter quartet of freshman Ethan Ashley, junior Sean Maison, senior Scott Maison and junior Eli Bennett combined for an Academy Record time of 16:23.31. Backed by a strong kick from Bennett on the home stretch, the Falcons deleted two seconds from the previous Air Force standard that had stood since 2004 and bettered the 10-team field by a half second for the program's first Relays' championship since 2019.

AIR FORCE TOP-10 MARKS
No. 2 – Jalan Rivers, High Jump (7'1½")
No. 3 – Women's 4x1600-Meter Relay (19:46.58)

Sophomore Jalan Rivers claimed Air Force's first Championship pennant in the high jump since 1964, while accounting for the program's best clearance since 1997 during a personal-best 7'1½" performance on the infield. Rivers, the top collegiate in the 12-jumper Invitational section, boasted a clean sheet en route to becoming just the third Falcon to break the seven-foot bar in outdoor competition (7'0¼"). He improved his overall clearance to 7'1½" two attempts later to move into second on the program's all-time standings.

Air Force also impacted the top portion of the women's all-time 4x1600-meter standings during the morning session, as senior Maddie Edwards, freshman India Jones, junior Rachel Crytser, and senior Stephanie Gregersen combined for the third-fastest time in program history (19:46.58) during a fifth-place performance. The Falcons received one more update to the program's record book on Friday, as junior Brandon Lindner recorded a career-best, fourth-place triple jump distance of 48'3½" to move into No. 17 on the all-time standings.

Sophomore Javin Bostic picked up a pair of qualifying finishes during two prelim races, as he advanced on time to the finals of the 100-meter dash (10.49) and teamed up with senior Jacob Trach, junior Jackson Connelly and senior Zac Larrier to qualify on time (41.00) to the finals of the 4x100-meter relay.

Elsewhere at Drake Stadium, sophomore Darek Hackett clocked a season-best time of 51.64 – a mark just 0.05-seconds off his personal best – to finish second out of 22 runners in the 400-meter hurdles, while classmate Cameron Breier was just 0.05-seconds off his career best to place eighth (52.12) in his first hurdles race of the season. Senior Hayden Bullock claimed a pair of top-10 finishes on Friday, as he finished fourth in the Invitational section of the discus throw (183'4") and 10th out of 22 throwers in the shot put (55'0"), while sophomore Taylor Rioux registered the third-fastest 400-meter time of her career (56.34) to finish ninth out of 27 runners.

A portion of the team returns to the Blue Oval tomorrow (April 28) for the final day of the 113th Drake Relays, while the remaining Falcons head to Fort Collins for the Doug Max Invitational.

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