Air Force Academy

Jan. 7, 2009

The Air Force men's and women's swimming and diving teams open a three-meet home stretch this Friday, Jan. 9, as they host Incarnate Word. The meet is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Cadet Natatorium.

Last Time Out...
The Air Force men's swimming team was in action last weekend in a quad-meet hosted by Arizona. The Falcons fell to the fourth-ranked host Wildcats and Washington, while picked up a victory over Colorado School of Mines.

The top performer for Air Force in Arizona was sophomore Tom Hansen, who captured a third-place finish in the 200 backstroke. Also placing in the top five for the Falcons were junior Chris Morin, who placed fourth in the 200 IM, and senior Justin Day, who took fifth place in the 100 breaststroke.

Meanwhile, the Air Force women last competed in November at the UCI/Nike Cup, hosted by UC Irvine. The Falcons finished 13th in the overall standings. Leading Air Force at the event was senior Jane Hwang, who placed seventh in the 200 IM, while finishing 11th in the 100 freestyle.

Scouting the Falcon Men...
The Air Force men's swimming team, which enters this weekend with a 6-7 dual record, has six swimmers who rank in the top five in the Mountain West Conference in their respective events, led by senior captain Bryan Avery, who holds the conference's fastest time in the 200 IM, while also ranking second in the 200 freestyle.

Sophomore Benjamin Gunn ranks second in both the 200 IM and 100 butterfly and third in the 200 fly. Senior Kai Yamashiro holds the second-fastest time in the MWC in the 200 backstroke. Junior Sean O'Keefe ranks fourth in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle events, while sophomore Tom Hansen rates fifth in the league in the 1650 free. In the 200 breaststroke, senior Spencer Butt holds the fourth-fastest time in the league.

Scouting the Falcon Women...
The Air Force women's swimming team, which enters this week's meet with a 4-9 dual record, is led by senior captain Jane Hwang, who ranks seventh in the MWC in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 freestyle. Two other swimmers rank among the top 15 in the MWC in their respective events, as well. Sophomore Betsy Scarberry is rated 14th in the 1650 free, while sophomore Kaeli Kluesner ranks 15th in the 400 IM.

For the divers, Ashleigh Peck's performance in the 1-meter dive against TCU ranks her 11th in the MWC. Meanwhile, junior Chelsea Tompkins holds the third-best score in the league in the platform dive.

Scouting the Cardinal Men...
The Incarnate Word men's swimming team, ranked ninth nationally at the Division II level, enters the weekend with a 4-1 dual record.

The Cardinals, whose lone dual loss came to New Orleans, is coming off a third-place finish at the Arkansas/Little Rock Invitational, held Dec. 4-5. Among the leaders for Incarnate Word were Daniel Murata, who set a school record in the 200 IM and Luke Bernhard, who set a new school record in the 50 freestyle. Murata was also part of the record-setting 800 free relay team, while Bernhard swam on the 200 free relay and 400 free relay teams which also set new school records. In addition, Blake McKay (200 breaststroke) and Sean Reeves (200 butterfly) also picked up first-place finishes in their respective events to lead the scoring for the Cardinals.

Scouting the Cardinal Women...
The Incarnate Word women's swimming and diving team, ranked seventh nationally at the Division II level, enters the weekend with a 3-2 dual record.

The Cardinals are coming off a fourth-place finish at the UALR Invitational. Incarnate Word set seven new school records at the meet, led by a pair of individual marks by freshman Joy Turner (100 fly, 100 back). Shaleen Doctor set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke, while Jessica Wilde set a new standard in the 3-meter dive. The Cardinals also set new school records in the 400 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay and 800 free relay.

In the Air Force Record Books...
At the Nike Cup, several Falcons made entries into the Air Force record books. For the men, sophomore Tom Hansen led the way with three new top times. His 1000 free-split of 9:31.35 ranks seventh in Air Force history, while his mark of 15:46.60 in the 1650 free ranks eighth in the Falcons' record books. He also posted a time of 1:50.56 in the 200 backstroke, ranking ninth in Academy history.

Senior Spencer Butt moved into sixth place on the Air Force top 10 list in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:03.80. Senior Bryan Avery (1:51.05) and sophomore Benjamin Gunn (1:51.10), rate ninth and 10th, respectively in the 200 IM, while sophomore Robert Dawson is now tied for 10th place in the 50 free with a mark of 20.85.

On the women's side, three swimmers made their marks in the Air Force record books. Senior Laken Stogner moved into seventh place in Air Force history in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.60, while sophomore Kaeli Kluesner now ranks eighth in the record books in the 400 IM with a mark of 4:34.62. Finally, freshman Alison Ceranski registered a time of 24.28 in the 50 freestyle, ranking ninth all-time at the Academy.

Up Next...
The Falcons return to action next weekend with a pair of home meets, starting on Jan. 16, as Air Force hosts conference foe UNLV at 4:00 p.m. Meanwhile, the Falcons host a tri-meet versus Denver and Northern Colorado on Jan. 17, slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.

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