Academy grad named 2006 MWC male student-athlete

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  U.S. Air Force Academy 2006 graduate Matt Karmondy was honored as the Mountain West Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year.

Established by the Mountain West Conference Joint Council in 1999, the award is the highest honor presented to a student-athlete by the league. The award is bestowed annually to the male and female who best exemplify the term "student-athlete" by achieving excellence in academics, community involvement and athletics.

Criteria for the award requires that nominees demonstrate leadership, character and conduct on and off the playing field. In addition to superior athletic achievement, candidates must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average. The winners receive a $2,500 post-graduate scholarship.

Karmondy, an aeronautical engineering major, excelled for the Falcon swimming and diving teams the past four years, and served the last two seasons as team captain. In addition to several individual top-10 finishes, he helped engineer the Falcons' rise from last place at the 2005 MWC Championships to third place at the 2006 MWC Championships.

A two-time all-MWC performer in 2004 and 2005, he also earned Academic All-MWC honors three straight years and was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. In 2006, he was honored with the Mountain West Conference Senior Recognition Award for swimming and diving.

A Colorado Springs, Colo., native, Karmondy ranked among the top 25 in a class of 889 at the academy and was awarded the Draper Scholarship for graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He won the academy's Thomas D. Moore Award for conducting the best summer research in the engineering division and earned the 2006 Cadet Research Award.

He has co-authored four articles in the field of aeronautics and briefed NASA on his research concerning space shuttle re-entry. One of his publications took first place at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics regional contest and will be submitted for national competition.

He had several roles of responsibility and leadership at the academy, and also participated in community service activities.

Karmondy is the second Falcon swimmer to earn the student-athlete of the year award in the last four years, joining John Dayton who won the award in 2003.

The Mountain West Conference Female Student-Athlete of the Year was University of New Mexico senior Maja Kovacek, a top-ranked tennis player.