Air Force News, news from Iraq - Air Force Times

Air Force names athletes of the year

Capt. Linda Jeffery and Master Sgt. Martin Bedford are the Air Force’s female and male athletes of the year for 2006, the Air Force reported Friday.

Jeffery, a combat support flight chief at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., won the All-Air Force Women’s Golf Championship and led the Air Force team to the 2006 Armed Forces Women’s Golf Championship, where she beat her nearest opponent by nine strokes.

She led the U.S. Armed Forces women’s team to victory in the 2006 Conseil International du Sport Militaire Championship in Ireland, where she won the individual title by 12 strokes and the team beat its nearest competitor by 53 strokes.

Bedford, a special purpose vehicle and equipment mechanic at Kunsan Air Base, Korea, won the 2006 Air Force Bowling Championship and led the Air Force to the 2006 Armed Forces Championship, placing first among the top 45 military bowlers.

He also placed fourth out of 151 U.S. amateur bowlers at the United States Bowling Congress Trial, where he set a new eight-game block record with an average score of 242.

In April, Bedford placed third out of 80 competitors at the U.S. Amateur Bowling Association’s Spring Nationals and was a member of Team USA’s silver medal doubles team at the 2006 Tournament of the Americas. He now is ranked ninth in the American Zone North Region.