Air Force Academy

Oct. 22, 2008

The Air Force men's swimming and diving team is back in action this weekend, Oct. 25, with a tri-meet against Colorado School of Mines and host Denver.

Last Time Out...
The Air Force men's swimming team opened its season last weekend at the Early Bird Invitational, hosted by Colorado State. The Falcons, who competed on just one day of the two-day event, finished third in the team standings with 704 points. Air Force took home first-place finishes in nine of the 13 events in which they competed, including all three relays.

The top individual performers for the Falcons at the Early Bird Invitational were seniors Spencer Butt and Matt Jurcak and freshman Corydon Butler. Butt won the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, Jurcak won both the 100 and 200 backstroke events, and Butler took first place in the 200 free and 1650 free.

Scouting the Falcons...
This weekend, Air Force will compete in its first dual meets of the season. Meanwhile, the Falcons' top swimmers, including returning Olympic Trial qualifiers Bryan Avery, Justin Day and Benjamin Gunn, will make their season debuts. Also competing for the first time this season is the Falcons' diving squad, led by Kyle Van Valkenburg, the returning conference champion in the platform dive.

Scouting the Orediggers...
The Colorado School of Mines men's swimming and diving team opened its season at last weekend's Early Bird Invitational, bringing home the team title with 1041.5 points.

At the Early Bird Invitational, the Orediggers won the 400 medley relay, while finishing second in both the 200 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay. In addition, divers Simon Demby-Myers, Chris Moore and Jesse Dennis finished second, third and fourth respectively in the 3-meter diving event.

Among the leaders for Denver are returning All-Americans Blake Worsley and Aaron Feight. Worsley finished fourth at the 2008 NCAA Championships in the 500 freestyle, while Feight took ninth place in the 3-meter dive.

MWC Swimmer of the Week...
Senior Matt Jurcak earned the first Mountain West Conference Men's Swimmer of the Week honors for the 2008-09 season, awarded on Oct. 21. It marks the first career honor for Jurcak.

Jurcak, a native of Plymouth, Mich., took first place in all five events he competed in at last weekend's Early Bird Invitational in Fort Collins, Colo. He won the 100-yard backstroke in a personal-best time of 55.09, and followed with a time of 2:00.30 in the 200 back to win the event. He also swam the lead-off leg on all three of Air Force's winning relays, as the Falcons touched in 1:39.09 in the 200 medley, 3:16.91 in the 400 free and 7:19.66 in the 800 free races.

Up Next...
The Air Force men's swimming and diving team is back in action next week, Oct. 31, when it travels to West Point, N.Y., for a dual meet against service academy rival Army.

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