Cadet blasts academy pentathlon record Published Feb. 25, 2005 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- Dierra Poland was the Falcons’ lone competitor in the pentathlon event here Feb. 24, smashing the Air Force Academy record with 3,586 points to finish sixth. It broke the previous record by 350 points. Highlighting Poland’s outing was a second-place finish in the shot put with a career-best toss of 41 feet 2 1/4 inches. She also collected a third-place finish in the day’s opening event -- the 60-meter hurdles. Poland clocked a career-best time of 8.63 seconds to finish just 0.02 seconds behind the event runner up. Poland also posted a career-best distance of 17-10 1/4 in the long jump to finish sixth and jumped 5-1 to finish 11th in the high jump.Not only did Poland set a new academy record for pentathlon, she also moved into the program’s all-time top-10 list in several events. She is now ranked second in the hurdles, seventh in the long jump and ninth all-time in the shot put.