Academy teams have up-down weekend

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SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  It was a "mixed bag" for Air Force Academy sports teams over the weekend, but the men's basketball and tennis teams led the action with victories.

In men's basketball, the Falcons finished the regular season with a 61-56 victory over the University of Wyoming Cowboys. They ended the season with an overall record of 18-11 and 9-5 in Mountain West Conference action. The cadets, seeded No. 3, open the 2005 MWC championships March 10 in Denver. They will square off on national television against 6th-seeded San Diego State University on ESPN beginning at 10 p.m. MST.

In a busy weekend of tennis, the Air Force men’s tennis team snapped its three-match losing streak with three key victories. On March 5, the men started with a 6-1 victory over the University of Montana team. The following day, they stayed on track, beating the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 7-0, and then Weber State University by the same score. With the win, the Falcons improve to 11-3 overall this season and 7-0 at the academy. The doubles team of Tyler McClung and Shannon Buck, ranked No. 20 in the country, improved to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in dual match play at home.

In wrestling, with first-place finishes by Brandon Strong and Matt Benza, the Air Force wrestling team came in third at the 2005 NCAA West Regional Championships on March 5. Winning the team title was Northern Iowa University, with 93 points, while Fresno State University finished second with 88.5 points. Air Force followed with 56.5 points. With the West Regionals wrapped up, the season comes to a close for most of the Air Force wrestlers. However, by virtue of their individual titles, Strong and Benza will each receive automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, to be held in St. Louis, March 17 to 19.

The Falcon lacrosse team split a pair over the weekend. Despite a personal-best 20 saves by goalkeeper Justin Pavoni, the team fell to 11th-ranked Towson University, 15-6 on March 5, the first day of the Pioneer Face-Off Classic in Denver. In their other game of the tourney, played March 6, the Falcons bounced back to defeat the Lafayette College Leopards, 11-6. The academy is now 2-1 on the season.

In track and field competition, Paul Gensic cleared a career-best height of 17 feet 9 3/4 inches to win the pole vault competition at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind., on March 5. Not only is it a career-best mark for him, it also solidified his standing with the second-best vault in academy history. Makisi Haleck also cleared a career-best height, posting a vault of 17-3 1/2. The mark improved his standing in the program’s all-time list, as he cleared the third-best height in program history.

In other track news, Mark Walter set a provisional qualifying mark in the mile, with a career-best time of 4 minutes 01.98 seconds. He moved into second-place on the team’s all-time list with his run. On the women’s side, Kelly Robinson posted a top-10 time in the mile run, at 4:49.29 to place 10th. Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year Travis Picou placed fourth in the 200-meter dash at 21.77.

In baseball, the Falcons were 1-4 during a weekend series in Bradenton, Fla. They lost their first game March 3 to Northeastern University, 13-6. A nine-run sixth inning by the Huskies broke open what had been a very close game. In the second game the following day, Air Force bounced back to defeat Valparaiso University 10-4. The Falcons had a season-high 15 base hits in that game. In the third game, held March 5, a big four-run seventh inning by Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne helped the Mastodons to an 8-3 win. In the final game of the series, Lehigh University jumped out to an early 9-0 lead and cruised to a 12-6 win over the Falcons. The weekend series left the academy team with a 4-11 record for the season.

In college hockey March 4, the Bemidji State University Beavers bested the Falcons 4-1. The game was closer than the score indicated. BSU held a 2-1 lead going into the last two minutes of the game when the Falcon coach pulled the goalie to put an extra skater on offense. The Beavers took advantage of the empty net. Bemidji State leads the College Hockey America conference. The Falcons are in fifth place in the conference with an overall record of 13-17-3 and 5-13-1 in conference play.

In women's basketball, the academy team lost its final two games of the season to Mountain West Conference opponents. In the first game March 3, the Falcons struggled on the offensive end in the second half, finally losing to the University of Wyoming, 60-43. In the final game of the season for the Falcons, poor shooting did them in as they lost to the Rams, 75-40. The academy hoopsters ended the regular season tied with San Diego State University, both with a 2-12 record. In the MWC playoffs in Denver, which begin March 9, the No. 7 seed Falcons will face No. 2 seed, University of Utah.