Falcons Have a Field Day in Boulder

BOULDER, Colo. -- Backed by a strong day in the throwing circle, the "field" portion of the Air Force track and field team kicked off the 2025 calendar year by making several additions to the Academy's all-time standings and picking up four victories this afternoon (Jan. 17), as they opened competition at the Colorado Classic in Boulder.

AIR FORCE TOP-10 MARKS

No. 5 – Cooper Stroka, Weight Throw (19.42m (63'8¾")

No. 10 – Paige Birch, Weight Throw (16.24m, 53'5½")

Junior Texas Tanner dominated from the two infield throwing circles, as he recorded a distance of 51'6¼" to finish first out of 33 throwers in the shot put and then surpassed the 70-foot mark for the second-straight week to easily win the weight throw. Tanner led Air Force to two of the top-three finishes in the weight throw, as senior Cooper Stroka recorded a throw of 63'8¾" to finish third in the meet and improve his own No. 5 distance on the Academy's all-time list. The women's weight throw standings also received an update on Friday, as sophomore Paige Birch unleased a career-best throw of 53'5½" – a PR of more than four feet – to move into No. 10 on the program's all-time standings.

The women swept the horizontal jump titles on Friday, as freshman Ella Pears won the triple jump with a leap of 35'11½" and sophomore Kayla Beach used a season-best distancec of 18'0¼" to finish first in the long jump. The victory by Beach paced the Falcons to three of the top six finishes in the 14-athlete long jump, as freshman Alese Banks recorded a debut of 17'8¼" to finish fourth and classmate Ryan McFadden posted a debut leap of 17'7" to finish sixth. The two first-year Falcons also entered the Academy Record Book with those marks, with Banks and McFadden tied for 14th and 18th, respectively, on the program's all-time standings.

Fellow freshman Barrett Boyd recorded a career-best clearance of 12'5½" to move up to No. 18 on the Academy's all-time standings and finish third in a pole vault competition that featured 18 athletes.

Boyd was one of three Falcons to finish within the top eight of the pole vault, as sophomore Alex Brooks tied for fifth with a season-opening 11'11¾" and classmate Karli Neff matched her career-high of 11'5¾" to tie for eighth. On the men's side, the freshmen duo of James Vogel Jr. and Brayden Richards tied for fifth out of 14 vaulters with mtching heights of 15'5".

Elsewhere at Colorado's Indoor Practice Facility, freshman Morgan Glaser cleared 5'5¼" to tie for second in the women's high jump and senior Travon Stevens-Long placed fourth in the men's long jump with a distance of 21' 1¼".

The Air Force runners head to Boulder tomorrow (Jan. 18) for the second day of competition at the Colorado Classic. Due to the inclement weather forecasted along the Front Range, the meet will now start at 12:00 p.m. (MT), with doors opening one hour prior.

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Players Mentioned

Alese Banks

Kayla Beach

Paige Birch

Barrett Boyd

Alex Brooks

Morgan Glaser

Ryan McFadden

Karli Neff

Ella Pears

Brayden Richards

Cooper Stroka

Texas Tanner

James Vogel Jr.

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