Air Force Academy

Feb. 28, 2002

The Air Force men's team is in third place and the women's team ranks fifth at the midway point of the 2002 Mountain West Conference Swimming and Diving championships in Oklahoma City, Okla.

BYU leads the men's competition with 430.5 points, followed by UNLV with 305 and Air Force with 220.5. UNLV leads the women's competition with 219 points. BYU is second with 202, CSU third with 200, Utah fourth with 175 and Air Force fifth with 168.

The Air Force men were led by junior James McCroan, who placed fifth in the 5000-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.96. Sophomore Eric Pounds placed third in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:50.95. Sophomore John Dayton had a solid day. He placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle (20.72) and helped the 200-yard freestyle relay team to a third place finish with a time of 1:22.25. Other members of the relay team were seniors Nam Nguyen and Stewart Parker and junior Nate Amidon. Freshman Brady Lindberg rounded out the Falcons' top eight finishers with a sixth place finish in the three-meter diving with 400.80 points.

The Air Force women were paced by freshman Julienne White, who placed eighth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:06.62. Sophomore Sara Crowell added a 12th place finish in the 200-yard IM (2:08.09), while sophomore Carley Baxter (23.82) and freshman Karen Long (23.89) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Baxter, seniors Christine Cleaver and Niki Van't Wout and Long placed fourth with a time of 1:34.79.

The championships continue Friday with the preliminaries and finals in the 400-yard IM, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke, the women's three-meter diving and the 400-yard medley relay.