Air Force Academy

March 1, 2010

USAFA, Colo. - During a solid meet in which several Falcons added new entries into the Academy all-time top-10 list, the Air Force women's swimming team closed out the 2010 Mountain West Conference Championships with a spectacular performance in the 200 butterfly. Three different swimmers surpassed the previous school record of 2:04.50, set in 2004 by Academy graduate Carly Baxter.

In the morning's preliminaries of the 200 butterfly, senior Becky Gleason, sophomore Katharine Ernst and freshman Haley Holcombe all bested the previous school record, with Gleason posting the top time, a mark of 2:04.03. She and Ernst, who recorded a time of 2:04.23, both made it into the finals of the event, while Holcombe, who clocked a time of 2:04.40, just missed the cut, advancing to the consolation finals.

Each Falcon improved in the evening swim, with Gleason taking fifth place with a mark of 2:03.00, more than three seconds faster than her top time entering the meet. Ernst, in her second final of the meet, knocked nearly four seconds off her previous best time, finishing seventh at 2:03.54. Meanwhile, Holcombe won the consolation heat in commanding fashion, clocking a school-record time of 2:02.85, more than seven seconds faster than her previous best time at the Academy.

"This was one of the best championship meets for our team in many years, with lots of best times and top-10 all-time swims," said Air Force women's swimming coach Casey Converse. "The 200 flyers really capped off the meet. Everybody swam under our record in the morning, and then all three were faster at night. Becky came out of the morning session with the record and she and Katharine were in the big final. By the end of the night, Haley ended up with the record, winning her second consolation final of the meet--it is tough to go in seeded first and pull of the win in a heat of great swimmers."