June 28, 2006

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force Academy senior Matt Karmondy and University of New Mexico senior Maja Kovacek were honored as the Mountain West Conference Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, respectively.

Established by the Mountain West Conference Joint Council in 1999, the Student-Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor presented to a student-athlete by the league. The award is bestowed annually to the male and female who best exemplify the term "student-athlete" by achieving excellence in academics, community involvement and athletics. Criteria for the Student-Athlete of the Year award requires that nominees demonstrate leadership, character and conduct on and off the playing field. In addition to superior athletic achievement, candidates must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average. The winners receive a $2,500 post-graduate scholarship.

Karmondy, an aeronautical engineering major, excelled for the Falcons swimming and diving team the past four years, including the last two seasons as team captain. In addition to several individual top 10 finishes, he helped engineer the Falcons rise from last-place at the 2005 MWC Championships to third-place at the 2006 MWC Championships. A two-time all-MWC performer (2004, 2005), he also earned Academic all-MWC honors three straight years and was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. In 2006, he was honored with the Mountain West Conference Senior Recognition Award for swimming and diving. A Colorado Springs, Colo., native, Karmondy ranks among the top 25 in a class of 889 at the Air Force Academy and was recently awarded the prestigious Draper Scholarship for graduate study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He won the Air Force Academy's Thomas D. Moore Award for conducting the best summer research in the engineering division and earned the 2006 Cadet Research Award. He has co-authored four articles in the field of aeronautics and briefed NASA on his research concerning Space Shuttle re-entry. One of his publications took first place at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics regional contest and will be submitted for national competition. He has often assumed roles of responsibility and leadership at the Academy, including a post as Assistant Director of Operations for Cadet Squadron 2, and found time for community service activities as well.

Kovacek carried a double-major in psychology and sociology while completing an outstanding tennis career with the Lobos. She played at the No. 1 position in singles and doubles for most of her career and became the only two-time all-America selection in New Mexico women's tennis history. A two-time MWC Player of the Year and four-time all-MWC honoree, she was nationally ranked in singles play four straight years at UNM. A native of Pula, Croatia, Kovacek earned Academic all-MWC accolades four years and was one of only eight regional winners for the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship & Leadership Award. She was recently named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic all-District second-team. Her list of accomplishments includes ITA Rookie of the Year, UNM Female Student-Athlete of the Year, ITA Scholar Athlete and MWC Scholar Athlete. She also volunteered for several community service activities, including the Kids After School Sports Program and Special Olympics.