Air Force Completes Second Day at MWC Championships

Feb. 28, 2008

Oklahoma City, Okla. - With 10 more events completed, the Air Force men's and women's swimming and diving teams wrapped up the second day of competition Thursday at the 2008 Mountain West Conference Championships, being held in Oklahoma City, Okla. The men sit in fifth place in the team standings with 191 points, while the women are currently ninth with 67 points. UNLV leads the men's competition, while BYU is in first place on the women's side.

Diver Kyle Van Valkenburg (So., Tucson, Ariz.) moved into the finals of the 1-meter dive, finishing fourth with a score of 298.10. Also scoring for Air Force in the men's 1-meter were David Arlington (So., Eagle River, Alaska), Randy Rogers (Jr., Fort Worth, Texas) and Nathan Glandon (Sr., Abilene, Texas) in ninth, 12th and 14th place, respectively.

In the men's 500 freestyle, sophomore Sean O'Keefe (Lake Oswego, Ore.) recorded a personal-best mark of 4:25.83 in the preliminaries to move into the finals, while teammate Tom Hansen (Fr., Berkeley Heights, N.J.) also advanced to the finals with a personal-best time of 4:30.02. O'Keefe, whose preliminary time was an NCAA B qualifying mark, finished fifth in the event, and now ranks third on the Academy's all-time list in the event. Meanwhile Hansen, who placed eighth, moved into sixth place on the Air Force top times list.

Also reaching the finals for the Falcons was senior captain Spencer Liedl (Neenah, Wis.), who recorded a career-best mark of 1:50.44 in the preliminaries before finishing sixth in the finals. Liedl's preliminary time ranks seventh in the Academy record books. Meanwhile, junior Nick Dixon (Canton, Mich.) added a best mark in the same event, recording a mark of 1:52.72 in the preliminaries before finishing 16th.

Senior T.J. Cowling (Newport News, Va.) and freshman Robert Dawson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) each moved into the consolation finals with personal bests (20.88 and 20.99, respectively) in the 50 free preliminaries. Dawson finished 15th overall, while Cowling took 16th place in the event.

The men wrapped up the second day in the 200 freestyle relay, with the team of Bryan Avery (Jr., Mililani, Hawaii), Cowling, Dawson and Chris Morin (So., Crown Point, Ind.) tying for fourth place with a season-best mark of 1:22.16.

In the women's 200 IM, school record holder Jane Hwang (Jr., Irvine, Calif.) reached the consolation finals with a time of 2:06.45 before finishing 13th overall. Also scoring for the Falcons on Thursday was senior diver Danielle Dowds (Sr., Huntington Beach, Calif.), who finished 12th in the 3-meter dive with a mark of 241.90.

In the final event of the day, the Air Force women finished eighth in the 200 free relay, with Jessica Rodgers (Fr., Colorado Springs, Colo.), Hwang, Esther Kim (Fr., Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Katelyn Hunter (So., La Crescent, Minn.) turning in a season-best mark of 1:37.25.

Day three of competition begins tomorrow, Feb. 29, starting with the men's 400 IM at 10:00 a.m. (CT), while the finals competition is slated to start at 6:00 p.m.

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