Air Force senior Texas Tanner set a new American collegiate record in the hammer throw on April 17, leading the field event athletes during the opening day of competition at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, California.
Tanner achieved a career-best distance of 78.87 meters (258 feet, 9 inches), winning the event by more than three meters over his competitors. His performance surpassed his previous Mountain West, Service Academy, and Air Force records with an earlier throw of 76.03 meters before extending that mark even further on his next attempt. The distance is now recognized as the best ever by an American-born collegiate athlete and marks the top collegiate throw since Balazs Kiss’s performance in 1995.
With this result, Tanner became the second-ranked hammer thrower in NCAA history just one week after reaching that same ranking in discus. Other notable performances from Air Force included sophomore Barrett Boyd improving her No. 21 program standing with a personal best clearance of 3.62 meters to finish third in women’s pole vault open section, and James Vogel Jr., also a sophomore, earning second place in men’s pole vault with a clearance of 4.80 meters.
In javelin events, Trenton Groff became only the twenty-fifth athlete from Air Force to surpass the 200-foot milestone with a career-best throw of 61.36 meters (201 feet, three inches), placing fourteenth overall and entering at No. 25 on Air Force’s all-time list. Freshman Cadee Alder finished eighth out of forty-two participants in women’s javelin after recording a mark of 45.80 meters (150 feet, three inches).
The Falcons’ distance squad was scheduled to continue their competitions later that evening at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa while sprint and field athletes are set to return for more events at Jack Rose Track during the final day of action.
