Air Force athletics announces major award winners
5/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
May 27, 2010
Senior Peter French was the Academy's 2010 Outstanding Athletic Achievement Award recipient. Seniors Michael O'Connor and Jennifer Nolta were named the team's Most Valuable Fencers Award honorees.
OUTSTANDING ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT: Senior Peter French has been one of the fencing program's most successful athletes. During his four-year career, French, a native of Austin, Texas, has brought sportsmanship recognition to the Academy and to the program as the 2007-08 MWC Hal Rothman Sportsmanship Award and NCAA Sportsmanship Award recipient. French is the program's highest ranked fencer in the U.S. Fencing Association point standings (fifth). He is a three-time NCAA Men's Epee All-American and earned honors as a NCAA All-West Region selection three times. While at the Academy, he has amassed a 182-57 collegiate record. At the 2010 NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Championships, he won the silver medal in men's epee and helped lead the five-member squad to a 12th-place finish, the team's highest finish in seven years. He was the Falcons' top competitor in over half of the men's epee competitions from 2006-2009. French has become a world class athlete throughout his career competing in both the Junior and Senior World Cups in Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and Spain.
Women's Fencing: Senior Jennifer Nolta (Reston, Va.) was the 2010 women's team captain. She took the women's epee team to a combined 57 wins at both the Brandeis and Duke meets. She concluded her Academy career with five top-10 finishes at the Nick Toth Open, the Falcon Open, the New Mexico Open and the Amarillo Open.
