Academy sports recap: Buck selected for top tennis tournament

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  Shannon Buck has been selected to play in the 2005 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships. The Air Force Academy junior is the first player in school history to qualify for two separate NCAA Championships. He competed in the tournament two years ago.

The 64-player, single-elimination tournament begins May 25 in College Station, Texas, at Texas A&M University. Buck is one of four players selected from the Mountain Region conference.

“Shannon has established himself as the best player we’ve ever had at the academy,” said head coach Rich Gugat. “To qualify for two NCAA tournaments is quite an achievement. To do it from a military school is almost unheard of.”

Buck, currently ranked No. 69 in the country, finished the regular season with a 25-2 overall record and a 21-1 mark in dual matches. He will enter the tournament with a 17-match winning streak.

In other academy sports news, Tyler Goulding has been chosen to compete in the 2005 NCAA West Regional golf championship. He is just one of six people in the West Region awarded an at-large invitation, and the first Falcon to participate in an NCAA Regional since 2002.

Goulding was the Falcons’ top performer in the last 10 tournaments of the year and finished the season with a 72.78 stroke average. He was named the Mountain West Golfer of the Month -- the second Falcon to earn such honors – and was selected to the All-Mountain West Conference team.

In track and field, Olivia Korte set an academy record in the discus with a 170-foot, 6-inch toss at the Ris Western-Air Force Twilight Invitational. The mark -- 18 feet farther than the event’s runner-up -- was four feet past her previous best toss of 166 feet, 6 inches set last year.

Four athletes on the men’s pole vault team recorded season and/or career-best marks. Paul Gensic had a season-best ascent of 17 feet, 10 1/2 inches to win the home meet, while Makisi Haleck matched his career-best height of 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches to finish second. Christian Morgan and Jason Jones matched each other and their season-best mark by clearing 16 feet, 6 3/4 inches.

Nick Luina was the top finisher in the 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 21.76 seconds. Josh Van Wyngaarden won the 3,000-meter run with a personal-best 9:10.66 -- a career-high by 40 seconds.

Brian Willis tossed the javelin 193 feet, 1 inch to win that event, while teammates Brian Rahl and Matt Gensic finished second and third with respective throws of 164 feet, 1 inch, and 160 feet, 5 inches.

On the women’s side, a pair of Colorado Springs natives won their respective events. Genelle Chapman won the 100-meter hurdles at 14.31, while Erin Richardson took top honors on the pole vault with a height of 11 feet, 1 3/4 inches.

Jami Hodge won the 100-meter dash with a career-best of 12.27 seconds. Deb Durey won the 400-meter hurdles at 64.77 seconds. Durey also ran the final leg of the winning 4x400-meter relay, as Jennifer Neville, Kim Brady and Paula Maffey combined for 4:05.81

In baseball news, the University of Nevada Las Vegas scored in all but one inning to out-slug Air Force, 24-15, in a game where two Mountain West Conference records were set. UNLV set a conference single-game record with 11 doubles and leadoff hitter, J.C. Sibley, set a conference record with seven base hits.

With the wind gusts reaching as high as 25 mph and blowing out to center and right field, the two teams combined for 22 extra-base hits and nine home runs. UNLV added six homers to its 11 doubles, while Air Force had a double, a triple and three home runs. UNLV swept the three-game series with additional wins of 20-1 and 17-3 to give UNLV a 25-24 season record while the Falcons fell to 6-39.