Fourteen Falcons Named to All-MWC Swimming & Diving Teams
3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
March 1, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A total of 14 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 on Monday. The all-conference honorees for the Falcons included 12 individuals and four 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.
Sophomore Corydon Butler (Williamsburg, Va.) earned all-conference honors for the first time in his career, finishing fourth in the 1650 free and fifth in the 500 free. His NCAA `B' standard time of 15:31.09 in the 1650 free ranks as the fifth-fastest in school history, while he ranks seventh all-time at the Academy in the 500 free with a mark of 4:29.46.
Junior Robert Dawson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) finished third in the 100 freestyle to earn the first individual all-conference honors of his career. Dawson's career-best time of 44.73 in the preliminaries moved him into fourth-place in the Academy record books.
Also earning all-conference honors for the first time was senior Greg Edmonds (Fairfax Station, Va.), who placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke. Edmonds posted a mark of 55.76 in the finals, a time which ranks as the fifth-fastest in school history.
Sophomore Katharine Ernst (Folsom, Calif.) earned a pair of all-conference accolades in her first year as an All-MWC performer, placing fourth in the 100 fly and seventh in the 200 fly. Her time of 56.10 in the 100 fly ranks as the third-fastest in Academy history. Meanwhile, she clocked a time of 2:03.54 in the 200 fly, which is nearly one second faster than the previous school record and now ranks third on the Air Force top-10 list.
Senior Becky Gleason (Ballwin, Mo.) picked up the first All-MWC honors of her career with a fifth-place finish in the 200 butterfly. Gleason, who broke the Falcons' school record in the morning preliminaries, posted a time of 2:03.00 in the finals and now owns the second-fastest time in school history (behind teammate Haley Holcombe, who captured the school record with a win in the consolation finals).
For the second-consecutive year, junior Benjamin Gunn (Gainesville, Ga.) garnered all-conference honors in three individual events. Gunn defended his MWC title in the 200 IM with a school and conference record time of 1:47.22. In addition, Gunn, a two-time All-MWC performer in the butterfly events, competed in the backstroke events this season, placing second in both the 100 and 200 back. Gunn's time of 48.64 in the 100 back was a school record, while his mark of 1:46.28 in the 200 back was just one one-hundredth off of the Air Force record. Gunn, who now owns four school records, posted NCAA provisional marks in all three of his individual events at the MWC Championships.
Junior Tom Hansen (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) was an all-conference performer for the second-straight year. After earning All-MWC honors in the 500 free and 200 back in 2009, Hansen finished third in the 400 IM with a mark of 3:58.15. His time ranks as the eighth-fastest in Academy history.
Senior captain Chris Morin (Crown Point, Ind.) scored the first individual all-conference accolades of his career with a fifth-place finish in the 100 butterfly. Morin, who already holds the second-fastest time in school history in the event, clocked in at 48.71 in the preliminaries.
Senior Sean O'Keefe (Lake Oswego, Ore.) will leave the Academy with nine individual all-conference performances after earning All-MWC recognition in the 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free in each of the past three seasons. This year, O'Keefe registered his best-ever showing at the conference meet, tying for second in the 500 free with an NCAA `B' mark of 4:24.89. He placed fourth in the 200 free after clocking a time of 1:38.45 in the preliminaries, while placing sixth in the 1650 free with an NCAA `B' standard of 15:34.58.
Diver Kyle Van Valkenburg (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.), the recipient of the MWC Senior Recognition Award, earned a pair of all-conference honors for the third-straight season, finishing second on the 3-meter springboard while placing third on the platform. A two-time conference platform champion, Van Valkenburg recorded career-best marks in both events, scoring a 373.20 on 3-meters, while registering a mark of 371.80 on the platform.
Freshman J.H. Vivadelli (Richmond, Va.) earned All-MWC honors in the 200 butterfly in his rookie campaign, placing sixth in the event after recording a career-best mark of 1:50.82 in the preliminaries.
Paul Young (Fr., Lakeville, Minn.) also turned in an all-conference performance in his first collegiate season, after finishing sixth in the 200 backstroke. Young's preliminary time of 1:48.05 currently ranks as the sixth-fastest in school history.
The men also grabbed all-conference recognition in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay, posting NCAA provisional marks in three of the four events. Gunn, Edmonds, Morin and Dawson recorded an NCAA `B' standard time of 3:17.05 in the 400 medley relay to take second place, while the 200 free relay team of Morin, O'Keefe, Eric Robinson (Jr., Lakewood. Colo.) and Dawson also placed second with a mark of 1:21.95.
In addition, the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams each posted NCAA `B' standards to place third. The 200 medley relay team of Gunn, Cody Deacon (So., Portland, Ore.), Morin and Dawson registered a mark of 1:29.46, while the 400 free relay team of Gunn, O'Keefe, Morin and Dawson clocked a time of 2:59.86.
The Air Force men finished second at this year's Mountain West Conference Championships, matching its finish in 2009, while the women took ninth place.
