Air Force athletics recognizes Top 6 Award winners
5/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | General
Air Force athletics recognized several cadet-athletes for their accomplishments during the 2016-17 season at the Academy's annual awards ceremony. Senior football standout Weston Steelhammer took home male most valuable athlete honors while senior swimmer Genevieve Miller was named female MVP. Senior men's tennis player Lucas Fumagalli won the scholar-athlete award while women's tennis player Chloe Forlini earned the athletic leadership award. Senior men's swimmer Jordan Dahle earned the athletic excellence award while senior baseball player Bradley Haslam was awarded the outstanding athletic achievement award.
Steelhammer became the first Air Force football player to be named first-team all-conference three times. He was named second-team All-American by The Sporting News and third-team by the Associated Press. Steelhammer led the Mountain West and ranked third nationally in interceptions with seven and became the school's all-time career leader in interceptions with 18 which ranks first all-time in Mountain West history. He was a finalist for the Lott IMPACT Trophy for his performance on and off the field and earned the Pat Tillman Award for character, intelligence, sportsmanship and service.
Miller capped her historic swimming career by earning All-America honorable mention honors in the 500 freestyle and the mile at the 2017 NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year. She is the only female swimmer from one of the three service academies to earn All-America honors. Miller won the 500 and the mile at the Mountain West championships four consecutive years, becoming the only two-event, four-time champion in the history of the conference. She holds the Academy, Mountain West and MW Championships record in both the 500 and mile.
Fumagalli is a two-time College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA) third-team Academic All-American. He has a 3.85 grade point average and has been on the dean's list every semester at the Academy. A three-time Mountain West scholar-athlete honoree, Fumagalli is also a three-time academic all-Mountain West selection. He has also received the outstanding cadet in Aero 315 for having the highest grade out of 396 students in core aero during a semester. He also earned the Ace list for having a perfect 4.0 GPA for a semester.
Forlini served as the chairperson for the Academy's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee this year after being the vice chairman in 2015-16. She has also been active in her squadron as an element leader and flight commander while attending the athletic department's Gettysburg Team Captain's Summit for leadership training in consecutive years. Forlini has been a leader in the community, volunteering at the Arthur Ashe Kids Day and speaking to schools in the community about social media awareness.
Dahle is a multiple conference champion in men's swimming while earning a 3.57 overall grade point average. He holds six Academy records in swimming while leading the team to back-to-back Western Athletic Conference titles. He served as the team's captain this season and was twice named conference swimmer of the week. Dahle also competed at the 2016 United State Olympic Trials.
Haslam set school and conference records with a 44-game hitting streak in 2017. His steak is the sixth-longest in the history of collegiate baseball. Haslam hit .380 this season and led the team with 63 runs scored. He led the Mountain West in hitting in 2016 with a .408 average and had a school record 95 hits. He hit .419 in conference play.
