Ten Falcons Named to All-MWC Team
3/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
March 4, 2008
Colorado Springs, Colo. - Ten members of the Air Force men's and women's swimming and diving teams were named All-Mountain West Conference selections, as announced by the league Tuesday morning. The all-conference honorees for the Falcons included nine individuals and two relays. To be placed on the All-MWC team, an individual must place in the top six of an event for men and the top eight for women. For the relays, the all-conference team consists of the top three finishers in each race for both men and women.
Junior Bryan Avery (Mililani, Hawai) was an all-conference performer in the men's 200 freestyle for the second-straight season, finishing as the runner-up with a personal-best mark of 1:37.22. His time, an NCAA provisional mark, moved him into second place on the Academy's top 10 list. Meanwhile, Avery also set a school record in the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 48.38 in the time trials.
Junior Justin Day (Peyton, Colo.) earned all-conference in the men's 100 breaststroke after finishing third in the event. His personal-best mark of 55.43 ranks third in the Air Force record books.
Senior diver Danielle Dowds (Huntington Beach, Calif.) picked up all-conference honors in the women's platform dive for the second time in her career, placing fourth with a score of 210.00 in the finals.
Freshman Benjamin Gunn (Gainesville, Ga.) was named an All-MWC performer in both the men's 100 butterfly and 200 butterfly. Gunn finished third in the 200 fly and sixth in the 100 fly. Both marks rank fourth all-time in the Air Force record books.
Junior Jane Hwang (Irvine, Calif.) earned a pair of all-conference honors in the women's 100 and 200 freestyle events for the second consecutive season. Hwang, the school-record holder in the 200 free, finished seventh in the event, while placing eighth in the 100 free. Her personal-best mark of 51.31 in the 100 free preliminaries moved her into second place on the Academy's top 10 list.
Senior captain Spencer Liedl (Neenah, Wis.) earned all-conference recognition in both the men's 200 and 400 IM. Liedl, who finished fourth in the 400 IM, also placed sixth in the 200 IM, ranking seventh all-time in the event at the Academy.
Leading the way for Air Force with three individual all-conference selections was sophomore Sean O'Keefe (Lake Oswego, Ore.), an all-conference honoree in the men's 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free. O'Keefe finished fourth in the 1650 free, fifth in the 500 free and sixth in the 200 free. With NCAA B cut times in both the 500 and 1650 free, O'Keefe now ranks third all-time at the Academy in the 500 free and fourth in both the 200 and 1650 free.
Diver Kyle Van Valkenburg (So., Tucson, Ariz.) earned all-conference honors in both the men's 1-meter springboard and the platform diving events. The conference champion in the platform dive, Van Valkenburg scored a 323.65 in the event, nearly 40 points ahead of his closest competitor. Meanwhile, he finished fourth in the 1-meter with a score of 298.10.
Junior Kai Yamashiro (Kaneohe, Hawaii) took all-conference honors in the men's 100 and 200 backstroke events. Yamashiro, who finished fourth in the 200 back and sixth in the 100 back, now ranks fourth in the Air Force record books in both events.
The men also grabbed all-conference recognition in both the 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. Avery, O'Keefe, T.J. Cowling (Sr., Newport News, Va.) and Gunn recorded a season-best mark of 6:36.32, an NCAA provisional time, to finish second in the 800 free relay. Meanwhile, the 400 medley relay team of Yamashiro, Day, Avery and Cowling clocked a season-best 3:18.55, finishing third.
The Air Force men finished fourth at this year's Mountain West Conference Championships, while the women took ninth place overall.
