Academy sports recap: Falcon lacrosse MVP selected for all-star classic

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  Air Force lacrosse player Tim Hade has been selected as an alternate to play for the North squad at the 64th annual STX-GEICO North/South Classic, which will be held June 11 on the campus of State University of New York - Cortland. Recently, Hade, a long-stick midfielder/defender, was honored as the team's Most Valuable Player for the current year.

Falcon swimmer Matt Karmondy and wrestler Luke Lefever were both named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America University Division Men’s At-Large All-District VII Team May 26. There were 33 student-athletes nominated from District VII representing the sports of fencing, golf, ice hockey, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, water polo and wrestling. The combined grade-point average of this year’s team is 3.76. Karmondy is an aeronautical engineering major and has a 3.85 GPA. Lefever is a civil engineering major and has a 3.67 GPA.

Air Force catcher Jon Polston was awarded the Mountain West Conference Baseball Sportsmanship Award on May 24. The award is voted on by the league coaches to the player most exemplifying true sportsman ship and character in competition. Polston has started 35 games at catcher for the Falcons, batting 0.240 with three home runs and 14 runs scored.

Falcon tennis player Shannon Buck made it into the second round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships on May 26 before losing to Izak van der Merwe of Old Dominion University, 6-3, 6-2. Buck, who had his 18-match winning streak snapped, is 73-13 in singles play for his career and No. 1 on Air Force’s career list for singles winning percentage in dual matches at 91.5 percent (66-5). In the first round, held May 25, Buck defeated Josh Cohen of the University of Miami 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.

The Falcon baseball team has ended its season May 25 after suffering two losses in the 2005 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championships. In the first game, third-seed San Diego State scored in each of its first five innings as the Aztecs went on to defeat six-seed Air Force, 21-6. In the elimination round played later in the day against the University of New Mexico, it was a see-saw battle that featured four lead-changes before the Lobos finally bested Air Force, 11-9. The Falcons conclude the 2005 season with a 9-44 overall and 4-26 conference record.

In off-season basketball news, new Falcon head coach Jeff Bzdelik announced his coaching staff for the 2005-2006 season May 26. Larry Mangino remains as an assistant coach for his sixth season and will be joined by newcomers Jeff Reynolds, Derrick Clark and Rob Pryor.

Reynolds comes to the academy from Tulane University where he was an assistant coach for the past four seasons. Clark spent seven seasons with the Metropolitan State College of Denver basketball program, including the last five as a full-time assistant coach, overseeing Metro State's recruiting efforts, the development of post players and office administration. Pryor, a 1997 graduate of the academy, joins the Falcon coaching staff after spending the past four years teaching and coaching basketball at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School.