Falcons win WAC title, first ever conference championship

Feb. 27, 2016

HOUSTON, Texas -- The Air Force men's swimming and diving team earned its first ever conference championship as the Falcons won the Western Athletic Conference title, Saturday, Feb. 27, in Houston, Texas. The Falcons posted 771 points to finish ahead of Wyoming (690), Grand Canyon (650), UNLV (578), North Dakota (344), CSU Bakersfield (309) and Seattle (183).

After finishing third in 2014 and second last season, the Falcons broke through this season with a deep team that went wire-to-wire, leading from day one all the way through the final event.

The Falcons started out the day by taking four the top five places in the 1650 free. Junior Andrew Faciszewski won with a time of 15:01.73. Kevin Jackson was third (15:05.71), Garrett Glaudini was fourth (15:20.12) and Collin Green was fifth (15:24.06).

In the 200 back stroke, Kris Tillery was third (1:45.63) and Joey Gebhart was seventh (1:47.01). The Falcons also had two qualifiers in the 100 free final as Jordan Dahle was sixth (44.37) and Steffen Mount was seventh (44.44).

Air Force had three qualifiers in the finals of the 200 breast stroke as Michael Barnosky was second (1:56.33), Kevin Fanter was third (1:57.53) and Zach Knoche as sixth (1:57.96). In the 200 fly, Sean Ledford was eighth with a time of 1:48.85).

In the final event of the four-day meet, the 400 free relay, the team of Devon Davis, Steffen Mount, George Frank and Jordan Dahle was second with a time of 2:56.48.

Barnosky, who won the 100 breast stroke title on Friday, has already qualified in that event for the NCAA Championships, March 24-26, in Atlanta, Ga. The Falcons had numerous NCAA "B" times and will await any other qualifiers for the national tournament.

Along with the team championship, the Falcons cleaned up on the individual awards. Rob Clayton was named the WAC Coach of the Year, Stan Curnow was named the Diving Coach of the Year, Nathanel Zillweger was named the Diver of the Year and Michael Barnosky was named the Swimmer of the Year.

Zillweger won both the 1-meter and 3-meter and was second on the platform. He earned the Diver of the Year award for the second straight season.

Barnosky won the 100 breast stroke with an Academy, WAC overall and WAC Championship record. He was also second in the 200 breast stroke and third in the 200 IM.

Curnow earned his sixth coach of the year honor while Clayton earned his third career coach of the year award.

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