Air Force logs productive day to open Mountain West Championships

HOUSTON- On the inaugural day of competition at the 2024 Mountain West Championships, Air Force saw its women create a myriad of season, personal, and school bests in Wednesday's opening session. The Falcon closed the day one of the four-day meet with 126 team points, slotting in at fifth among the nine teams.

The swimmers took part in two relays on Wednesday, resulting in new bests to boast.

Beginning with the 200 Medley Relay, the Air Force 'A" team of Anna Ashley, Naomi Furman, Allana Clarke, and Abby Turner posted a combined time of 1:40.52 to slot into seventh, resulting in 46 team points.

Ashley, as the lead of the Medley Relay team, managed a 25.27 split in the 50 Back to produce a new personal best. Clarke's 23.99 split in the 50 Fly and Turner's 22.37 both stand as the quickest times a Falcon has created in their respective events this year. As all three times now stand as the 2023-24 campaigns top swims in their respective events for Air Force, and so too was the Falcons overall 200 Medley Relay time.

Turner, along with Lauren Arnold, Alex Clark, and Ryan Mills, comprised the Falcons 800 Freestyle Relay team. The group would go on to produce a 7:21.15, besting the Falcons seed time by over eight seconds to award Air Force 48 team points.

Arnold, as the lead in the 800 Freestyle Relay, managed a 1:50.54 to open the race, the eighth-best 200 Freestyle time in program history.

The opening round saw the divers take part in the 1-Meter Dive, and the Falcons were given a points boost from a veteran and a rookie.

In their first taste of championship competition, Kadyn Macpherson and Kinzie Eztelmiller were among the Top 16 divers to qualify for a six more dives in the final round. Machperson managed a 235.35 in her preliminary round, while Etzelmiller was awarded 230.95 points.

"I am very proud of our ladies and their performances tonight," said head diving coach Kyle Van Valkenburg. "The 1-Meter event always comes down to tenths, and our divers showed up with competitive spirit to boost them to the top of the consolation finals."

C4C Macpherson, posting a collegiate-best score of 258.65 in the scoring round, placed 10th overall, awarding the Falcons 17 team points in her conference championship debut. C1C Etzelmiller wasn't far behind, placing 12th with a score of 251.70 to earn 15 team points.

"Today's results are some of the best first-day results Air Force diving has seen in some time," said Van Valkenburg. "I'm looking forward to seeing how the ladies finish out the next two events."

Tomorrow, Air Force will take part in 50 and 500 Freestyle races, as well as the 200 IM and 400 Medley Relay. The divers will again take to the deck, participating in the 3-Meter Dive. The preliminary round will begin at 9:30 am MT, with the championship round scheduled for 5:00 pm MT.

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