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USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Joe Christ of Las Vegas, Nevada, has announced his commitment to further his education and swimming career at the United States Air Force Academy. This spring, Christ graduated from Palo Verde High School, and will join the Falcons for the 2023-2024 season.
“I’m very excited to announce my commitment to continue my athletic and academic careers at the United States Air Force Academy. I would like to thank my friends and family, all of my coaches, and the coaching staff at USAFA for making this journey possible. Go Falcons.”
Christ trains and competes year-round with the Las Vegas Swim Club, where he largely focuses on middle distance freestyle events. This past December, he competed at Winter Juniors – West, where he clocked a personal best time of 1:39.92 in the 200 freestyle to finish 56th overall. He lowered his 200 freestyle by about half a second in May, as he swam a 1:39.46 at his high school regional championship.
At the Nevada High School State Championships (3A), Christ came away with the state title in the 100 freestyle. He swam a time of 46.44, putting him just a few tenths off his best done on a relay at Speedo Sectionals. He was also runner-up in the 200 freestyle, where he turned in a time of 1:42.01.
Top SCY Times:
- 50 free – 21.05
- 100 free – 46.21
- 200 free – 1:38.96 (altitude adjusted)
- 500 free – 4:38.92
- 200 IM – 1:54.87
The Air Force Academy men finished 5th out of six teams at the 2023 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships. Wen Zhang went on to compete at the NCAA Division I Championships, where he placed as high as 15th in the 200 freestyle.
Zhang led the freestyle group with program-record times of 42.32/1:31.42/4:15.96. Turning in the next fastest times of the season was rising sophomores James Winterfield and Jack VanValkenburg, who finished 7th (1:37.31) and 14th (1:39.48) at the WAC Championships. Christ’s arrival is timely as Air Force looks to rebuild depth in the freestyle events after Zhang’s graduation.
Joining Christ in Air Force’s class of 2027 is Andrew Ko, Benjamin Wong, Mack Nuval, Gavin Peterman, Gavin Dustin, Ralph Fiscus, Tucker Rice, Kellen Russell, and Garrett Kennedy.
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Way to go Joe!!! Congrats!
J CHRIST
J. Christ