NCAA Qualifier Wen Zhang Wins Three Events in Air Force Academy Intrasquad

Blue/Silver Intrasquad

  • September 26th, 2020
  • Cadet Natatorium
  • Short Course Yards
  • Results on Meet Mobile: “Blue/Silver Intrasquad”

The Air Force Academy kicked off their season with it’s annual Blue/Silver Intrasquad meet. The meet came down to the last event, with the silver team taking the win on both sides: 161-151 for the men and 162-156 for the women.

On the men’s side, the silver team was led by sophomore Wen Zhang, who scored 27 points for his team. He took first in the 100 (46.01), 200 (1:41.12), and 500 freestyles (4:55.08). Last year Zhang was the conference champion in the 200 free at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Swimming and Diving Championships. His time of 1:33.93 was good enough to earn him an invite to the NCAA Championships that were eventually canceled.

On the blue team, the top male performance came from junior Isaac Gwin, who also earned his team 27 points with three first-place finishes. Gwin took first in the 100 back (49.97), 200 back (1:55.02), and 200 IM (1:57.80), as well as leading off his team’s first-place 200 medley relay (23.08). Gwin was the WAC conference champion in the 100 back last year, as well as taking the bronze medal in the 200 IM.

Leading the silver team on the women’s side was Mariah Maile, a sophomore. Maile was dominant in the sprint freestyle events, taking the victory in the 50, 100, and 200. Touching in 23.83 in the 50, she was less than a tenth of a second ahead of second-place Annie Webber of the Blue team. Webber took 2nd in all three of the events she swam again Maile.

For the blue team, the top performance came from a freshman, Corinne Yorkman. A high school state championships finalist last year in Indiana, Yorkman took first in the 200 back (2:05.13) and 200 IM (2.11.65) during her first meet with the Falcons. She also added a third-place finish in the 100 back (59.29) and led off the Blue team’s 200 medley B-relay that finished 4th.

Other Notable Results

  • Sophomore Eric Wu was only just over a second off of his best time in the 100 breast, taking first in 57.08 over Zach Nelson.
  • Krystal Irwin took first on both the 1 and 3-meter springboards, posting scores of  151.15 and 164.20 respectively.
  • Corey Shepard anchored won the 50 free with a time of 21.31, as well as anchoring the 200 medley relay with a split of 20.35.

The Air Force Academy is coming off a season in which the men won the Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships and the women took 10th at the Mountain West Conference Championships.

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