Head track and field Director Steve Rainbolt, Denvoir Griffin and Ben Johnson fielded questions, Tuesday, on the recent Air Force Team Challenge meet and the American Athletic Conference competition.
 

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Rainbolt on...

...The Women's Team
"I was really proud of them, Meghan Holmes wins both the long jump and triple jump. Katie Murray jumps 1.71m/5-7.25 and sets a couple of personal records to finish high in the competition. The throwers are a great group, Natalie Halfman runs a solid 400m to finish third and it was just a good meet all around."

...The Shockers No. 9 Dual Meet Ranking
"We certainly are a program that works hard to have good athletes in all the events, we're a program that wants to have depth and balance. We've done that and that helps us to be ranked high in the national dual meet rankings."

...Denvoir Griffin
"A breakthrough meet for Denvoir, the preliminary looked fast. I could tell that it was probably going to be a good time, blew away the field and sure enough, he runs a 6.81. The final was more competitive and Denvoir ran significantly faster (6.76), I was excited the next morning to look how that stacked up in the American and it's up there on that conference list."

...Ben Johnson
"For him to be sitting there fourth on the national list is just remarkable, he's a fourth-year junior so he's been developing. It just goes to show how much development can take place if a guy does the right things, works hard at it and becomes a student of the event."
 

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Griffin on...

...His Success This Year
"I'm a lot more healthy this year than I was last year, being more mature, trusting the workouts and knowing that at the end of the day I'm getting better."

...His Mindset at the Starting Line
"I've always been pretty good at the start and when I'm at the starting line I like to be as calm and relaxed as possible. Sometimes I don't even look at the starter, I always try to stay relaxed and when he says set I take a deep breath, after that I just trust all the training I've had and go."

...What He Can Improve
"I need to work on the end of my race a lot more and it has gotten better than previous years, but I still can improve on it."

...His Mindset on the American Athletic Conference
"I've looked at it a lot but it still feels really early. How our team has been competing against other teams lately, I don't see why we couldn't win the conference meet."
 

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Johnson on...

...What He Has Improved This year
"I think the big improvements have come in my technical events like hurdling, I'm throwing shot put a lot further, I'm high jumping better and vaulting higher. Just the training, I'm stronger than I was last year and faster. I've started eating better and trying to take my nutritional more serious and it's starting to pay off."

...Whether His 5,615 Score Will Qualify for Nationals
"I hadn't looked at it at all, until after the Air Force meet, I went back and looked at last year's qualifying list...I think I'm gonna be right on the edge. I could get lucky and maybe get in with 5,615 but the goal is to score higher at the conference meet."

...If He's Thought About the American Conference Meet
"It's still more regular season, at least from the multi-aspect because not everyone has done a multi yet. I think just us and UConn have done a multi, so I'll be waiting for that. We've already been talking about the conference, so in that sense, we are already thinking about it."