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Falcons Win Five Track Titles
Men Finish Third
May 18, 2002 Most coaches wouldn't be very happy with a third place finish in a championship track meet. But not Air Force head coach Ralph Lindeman. He was so happy he could hardly contain himself following the Mt. West Conference Outdoor Championship which ended Saturday at the Academy's track. "This was the best outdoor conference meet for our team in my 13 years as head coach here," said Lindeman. "How could you not be happy with five individual conference champions and numerous personal bests by several of our athletes. I can't imagine we could have competed any better than we did in this meet." Brigham Young won their third consecutive MWC title with 226.50 points. Colorado State followed with 179.50. The Falcons scored 147.50 points followedy by New Mexico (125.50), Wyoming (90) and Utah (33). Th Cougars ran away with the women's team title-again. They scored 193.50 points to out-distant second-place Colorado State (147.33). San Deigo State finished third with 119.33 points followed by UNLV (98), Wyoming (95), Utah (75.33), New Mexico (57.50) and Air Force (32). "Our women finished last, but it was the most points that they have ever scored in this championship meet and I couldn't be happier with their performance," said Lindeman. The standout performances during Saturday's finals came in the pole vault and the 110-meter hurdles. Freshman Paul Gensic won the vault with a mark of 17-feet, 6-inches. It ranks second on Air Force's all-time list. Temple, a sophomore, ran 14.12 to win his race. The time set a new conference standard and ranks second on Air Force's all-time list. "I beieve that Paul will make the NCAA Championships in two weeks with the vault he put in the books today," said Lindeman. "Sean's performance was just outstanding. He ran an unbelievable race." Saturday's two winners joined Tim Fritz, Ben Payne and David Romero who won their events during Friday's competition. Fritz set a new conference standard with a javelin throw of 218-feet, Payne won the 10,000-meters (31:27.55) and Romero won the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:21.42). Other highlights Saturday included second place finish (3:10.66) by the 4x400-meter relay team of Temple, Marc Fulson, Tom Clark and Nick Bromberek; third place finishes by Brian Carpenter in the 1,500-meters (3:53.37), Bromberek in the 200-meters (21.34), and a fourth and fifth place finish in the triple jump by Anthony Park (50-2) and Paul Golando (48-10 ¾). The women were not without some top performers. Elissa Ballas, a junior, finished fourth in the 1,500-meters (4:48.10), freshman Dominiqui\e Boivin was fourth in the discus (145-7) and Jocelyn Dooley finished fourth in the javelin (145-3).
"I am so proud the way all of our athletes competed during this competition," said Lindeman. "It was a great way to end the season and with the youth we have on this team, the future is indeed bright."
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