Academy sports recap: three boxers take gold

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  Three members of the Air Force Academy boxing team were crowned national champions during the final round of the National Collegiate Boxing Association championships April 2 at the academy. Willie Lloyd, Darren Smith and Blake Baldi all earned gold medals in their respective weight classes.

As a team, the Falcons finished second with 40 points, just two points shy of tournament winner Navy with 42 points. Army rounded out the trio of service academies with a third-place finish of 29 points. While the standing snaps the Falcons’ streak of six straight team titles, Air Force continues its commanding streak of no finish lower than second. Besides the three gold, the Falcons also earned two silver medals and four bronze medals.

At The 2005 World Championship Swimming Trials in Indianapolis, Falcon swimmer Chris Knaute placed 19th in the 400 meter freestyle finals April 2. Knaute, the 2005 Mountain West Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Year, swam the distance in 4 minutes, 2.62 seconds.

Jami Hodge bested a 22-year old academy record in the 200-meter dash at the Falcon Open on April 2. Hodge ran the race in 24.46 seconds to beat the previous mark of 24.81 set in 1983 by former Falcon Gail Conway. With the record, Hodge becomes the only person, other than Conway, to hold any of the dash records and the 800-meter run record.

Big innings doomed the Falcons in a 25-2 baseball loss to Brigham Young University on March 31. BYU (18-7-1, 6-1) scored five or more runs in four different innings to blow out the Air Force in the Mountain West Conference game. The Falcons fall to 5-18 on the season and 0-4 in conference play.

In lacrosse action, the Falcons were unable to get past No. 5 Army during their match April 2. Despite rallying back from a 7-1 first-half deficit, the Air Force team was unable to pull off the upset against fifth-ranked Army, falling 12-8 to the Black Knights. The loss drops the Falcons to 3-4 on the season, while Army improves to 7-1.