Friday, February 23
Albuquerque, NM
10:00 am MT
Air Force Academy
at
Mountain West Championships
Photo by: Tyler Schank, NCAA Photos
Braeden Holcombe Wins Mountain West Heptathlon Title
2/23/2024 9:31:00 PM | Track and Field
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A conference title from senior Braeden Holcombe, three additional podium finishes, 13 qualifiers in the running events and a total of 22 improvements to the Academy's all-time standings – including nine Top 10 marks, headlined a strong day of competition for Air Force on Friday (Feb. 23) during the second day of competition at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships in Albuquerque.
| MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONS |
| Braeden Holcombe, Heptathlon |
Holcombe, who entered the day in fourth, shined in the final three events of heptathlon competition at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The senior finished second in both the 60-meter hurdles (8.26) and pole vault (season-high 15'5"), before posting season-best time of 2:43.26 to win the 1000-meter run. Needing to create a gap of more than five seconds ahead of the leader entering the final race, Holcombe paced himself around the track over the 1000 meters, moving to the front and, eventually, pulling away – creating a six-second spread at the line that secured Holcombe a 19-point victory in the heptathlon.
Amassing 5519 points over the seven events, Holcombe improved his No. 2 standing on the Academy's all-time list and accounted for the Mountain West's best championship total since 2017.
All three Falcons had stellar conclusions to the heptathlon on Friday, combining for 18 points and three improvements to the Academy's all-time standings. In addition to Holcombe's No. 2 all-time total, senior Brian Hubbard improved his No. 11 ranking with a personal-best 5093 performance and freshman Wyatt Curl bettered his No. 17 standing with a career-best 4842-point outing. Headlining the individual efforts for the pair was a heptathlon-leading pole vault clearance of 15'7" from Curl.
The men's weight throw also gave the men an early influx of points, as a separate trio of Falcons combined for another 18 points. Sophomore Texas Tanner and senior Gerrit Tamminga finished second and third, respectively – marking the second-straight year that Air Force has sent two to the podium, while junior Cooper Stroka added a fifth-place finish. Tanner recorded a distance of 68'9" – just one inch off his own Academy Record – to finish second in the 12-thrower event, while Tamminga recorded a throw of 66'4" – just four inches off his best – on his final attempt to vault from fifth to third in the standings. Stroka rounded out the trio with a career-best, fifth-place throw of 63'7" – a distance that, metrically-speaking, was his first over 19 meters and moved the junior from 12th to fifth on the Academy's all-time standings.
Senior Brandon Lindner also represented the Falcons on the podium this evening, as he placed second in the long jump with a career-best distance of 24'5½". The senior, who initially upped his career distance to 24'3½" during his third attempt, improved that mark to 24'5½" on his fifth jump – a distance that is the best Academy jump since Russ Clemons' Academy Record in 1976 and matches an Air Force Senior Class Record that Blue Kearney has held outright since 2015. Lindner, who now holds the No. 2 mark in program history, was one of two Falcons to score in the long jump, as classmate John Colizzi recorded a season-best leap of 22'9" to finish seventh.
The men currently lead the conference standings with 60 points – a tally that leads the field by 21 points.
On the women's side, freshman transfer Alex Brooks recorded a clearance of 12'6¾" – her best in the blue-and-silver to tie for fifth in the meet and move into a tie for 13th on the program's all-time standings.
After seven events, the women are in sixth with 18.50 points.
| AIR FORCE TOP 10 MARKS |
| No. 2 – Brandon Lindner, Men's Long Jump (7.45m, 24'5½") |
| No. 2 – Braeden Holcombe, Men's Heptathlon (5519 points) |
| No. 3 – Taylor Rioux, Women's 400-Meter Dash (54.78) |
| No. 3 – Liliane Aittama, Women's 800-Meter Run (2:08.66a) |
| No. 3 – Rebecca Wusinich, Women's Mile Run (4:48.96a) |
| No. 4 – Camryn Bodine, Women's 800-Meter Run (2:10.83a) |
| No. 5 – Kori Leverenz, Women's 400-Meter Dash (55.89) |
| No. 5 – Cooper Stroka, Men's Weight Throw (19.38m, 63'7") |
| No. 9 – Jettason Rose, Men's 200-Meter Dash (21.39) |
Brooks was one of three Falcons to impact the Academy Record Book on the pole vault runway, as senior Kasarah Hernandez and sophomore Nathalia Veal recorded matching career-best marks of 12'1½" to move into a tie for No. 18 on the program's all-time standings – a three-inch PR for Hernandez that made her the 21st Falcon all-time to surpass the 12-foot bar in competition. Freshman Paige Birch also had an impressive outing for the throwing cage, as she unleashed a throw of 49'5" – a career improvement nearly four feet – to debut at No. 16 on the Academy's all-time standings.
With the exception of the two heptathlon events, the track was reserved for qualifying on Friday and the Falcons made it count, advancing nine men and four women into tomorrow's finals and making 13 adjustments to the Academy Record Book.
Highlighted by accounting for three of the eight finalist spots in the hurdles, the men advanced at least one runner in every prelim. Junior Darek Hackett and the senior duo of Philip Hundl and Seth Meador all qualified in the 60-meter hurdles, placing 3-4-5 during prelims. Hackett led the trio with a 7.95 finish – a mark just 0.01 off his PR, while Hundl posted a career-best time of 8.00 to move into a tie for 12th in the Air Force Record Book and Meador's 8.03 finish moved him to No. 20 on the program's all-time standings.
The Falcons also qualified multiple runners in the 400-meter dash, as junior Cameron Breier (season-best 47.89) and freshman James Wambrod IV (career-best 47.91, No. 13 all-time at Air Force) both advanced on time, while finishing fifth and seventh, respectively. Junior Javin Bostic was the runner-up in the 60-meter dash (6.76) for the automatic bid into the final, while sophomore Ben Scheller earned a "Big Q" in his heat of the mile after finishing with a time of 4:12.17 – an altitude-converted time of 4:06.68 that returned the sophomore to the program's all-time standings (No. 24) after a brief, one-week absence. Senior Alex Patton finished second in his 800-meter heat (1:52.54) to secure an automatic spot in the finals, while sophomore Jettason Rose used a career-best 200-meter finish of 21.39 – the ninth-fastest mark in program history – to advance on time in that event.
The women will send two to the start line in the 800-meter run, as the freshmen duo of Liliane Aittama and Camryn Bodine used career-best performances to advance into the finals. Aittama improved her Air Force Freshman Class Record – and No. 3 all-time mark – with a 2:09.38 (2:08.66a) performance to win her heat and earn an auto bid, while Bodine advanced on time (2:11.56) and moved to No. 4 on the Academy's all-time standings with an altitude-converted mark of 2:10.83. Junior Taylor Rioux clocked in at 54.78 to improve her No. 3 Air Force ranking and advance on time, while senior Rebecca Wusinich knocked more than eight seconds off her previous best (4:48.96a, 4:55.39 actual) to earn an automatic bid into the finals, vault into No. 3 on the program's all-time standings, and reset the Air Force Senior Class Record that Maddie Edwards set last year.
Four other members of the women's team also impacted the program's all-time standings on Friday – including two more in the 800-meter run. Freshman Rachel Fereday and sophomore Sam Loida posted career-best times to move in 15th (2:14.02a) and 20th (2:16.31a), respectively, at that distance, while freshman Kori Leverenz accounted for the fifth-fastest time in program history (55.89) for 400 meters and classmate Brooke Coleman moved up to No. 14 on the 200-meter standings following a 25.64 finish.
Air Force returns to the Albuquerque Convention Center tomorrow (Feb. 24) for Championship Saturday at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships. Action is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. (MT) and will be streamed live on the MW Network.
Players Mentioned
Distance
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Throws
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Distance
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Sprints
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400m Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Long Jump, Triple Jump
/ Track and Field
Decathlon
/ Track and Field
Distance
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Sprints
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Hurdles
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Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Decathlon
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Decathlon
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Hurdles, High Jump
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Sprints
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Long Jump, Triple Jump
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Sprints
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Hurdles
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Mid-Distance
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Sprints
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Sprints
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Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
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Throws
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Pole Vault
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Distance
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