In the prelims of the men’s 3-meter event, there were a lot of wild events that should both shake up expectations for that final, as well as shake up the team battle for Friday evening.
The biggest news is that the defending NCAA Champion Nick McCrory withdrew after the 3rd round, meaning that we will have a new 3 meter champion in 2014. McCrory all-but-failed that 3rd dive, earning a score of 4.65 (.5’s from the judges) after he hit the water effectively in a V, with his hands and feet entering the water at roughly the same time. At that point his chances of making a final was all-but-over.
He’s not the only big name to miss out – Missouri’s David Bonuchi, who was on the Worlds team, finished 26th and is also out of the scoring brackets.
Texas’ Michael Hixon, who won the 1-meter on Thursday, took the top seed by a significant 20 points ahead of Indiana’s Darian Schmidt. Ignoring difficulty, Hixon was half-a-point clear of the rest of the field on his average judge’s score, which put him well into the lead.
Also into the A-Final is Stanford’s Kristian Ipsen (401.85), Arizona State’s Riley McCormick (388.80), Tennessee’s Mauricio Robles (388.55), Purdue’s Layne Rogers (388.40), Miami’s Zach Nees (386.20), and Virginia’s JB Kolod (382.95). Kolod should be Virginia’s first scorer of the meet.
There was also a scary moment on the 6th dive, when Minnesota’s Matt Barnard hit his right heel on the board. Another diver who was at the edge of the pool was quick to react and helped Barnard to the side of the pool, but after about 15 minutes of attention by medical staffs, he was wheeled out with a splinted right leg. He received a score of 0 on the dive, though he went into that final round in contention for the top 8 and certainly in a position to score.
All-told, though, Barnard was smiling and appeared to be in good spirits as he was wheeled out of the Texas Swim Center.
Even with Hixon taking the top seed, Cal fans will be happy with the result, as Hixon is Texas’ only finalist in the event. The Longhorns had four divers entered in the event, though the Longhorns will still be lurking for a huge scoring output in the platform on Saturday.
