Air Force Academy

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Air Force men's swimming & diving team took fifth place and the women seventh at the 2005 Mountain West Conference swimming & diving Championships at Oklahoma City Community College. Sophomore Chris Knaute was named 2005 MWC Swimmer of the year after his record-breaking performance in the 1650 yard freestyle.
Knaute set a new Mountain West Conference and Air Force school record in the men's 1650 free with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 15:09.15. Knaute shattered his previous-best time of 15:21.40 by 12 seconds and his previous MWC all-time record tome of 15:28.21 by 19 seconds. Knaute also won the 500 free and the 400 yard individual medley in the previous two days.
Junior Matt Karmondy also swam well for the Falcons in the 1650 free, swimming the seventh-fastest time in school history (15:49.46) en route to a fourth place finish. Senior Ryan Fitzgerald capped-off his career by placing sixth in the 1650 free with a career-best and ninth-fastest time in school history (15:56.73).
In the 200 backstroke sophomore Justin Lapin placed fifth with the fourth-fastest time in school history with a swim of 1:49.51. Senior Evan Parr followed up in sixth with the sixth-fastest time in school history with a prelim swim of 1:50.48.
Freshman TJ Cowling swam the ninth-fastest 100 free time in AFA history with a 13th place swim of 45.64. Sophomore Ryan Moss followed up in 14th with a career-best time of 45.74.
The Falcon women did good in the 1650 free as well, with four athletes finishing in the top 18. Sophomore Lauren White placed second with the seventh-fastest time in school history (17:03.42). Senior Julienne White, Lauren's sister, placed fourth with a season-best time of 17:09.57 (Previous season-best was 17:29.67).
Freshman Tiffany Biddle placed ninth with a career-best time of 17:24.28 (Previous season-best was 17:49.07) and junior Ginny Miller placed 18th with a career-best time of 18:01.60 (prev. best: 18:06.49).
UNLV captured its first-ever Mountain West Conference Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Championships tonight at Oklahoma City Community College. The men's team finished with 839 points, followed by BYU (745.50), Wyoming (592), Utah (560.50) and Air Force (403). The women tallied 701.50 points, besting second-place BYU (670). Utah finished third in women's action with 607 points, followed by Colorado State (489), Wyoming (431), New Mexico (387), Air Force (221.50) and San Diego State (153).
Nine new Mountain West Conference all-time and championship records were set at this year's meet. New men's all-time records include the 400-yard individual medley (Chris Knaute [Air Force], 3:50.22), 1650-yard freestyle (Knaute, 15:09.15), 100-yard butterfly (Joe Bartoch [UNLV], 47.30), 200-yard medley relay (UNLV, 1:27.02), 200-yard freestyle relay (UNLV, 1:18.79) and the 400-yard medley relay (UNLV, 3:13.92) The new women's all-time records were the 3-meter dive (Kelsey Patterson [Utah], 524.80), 1650-yard freestyle (Marta Stepanczuk [Utah], 16:32.83) and the 200-yard freestyle relay (UNLV, 1:32.73).
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