Tennessee’s Resident New Zealander, Liam Stone, Takes 1M Top Seed

2016 MEN’S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

After the conclusion of the epic three-way swim-off, the diving athletes congregated in the McAuley Aquatic Center diving well for their share of action. The nation’s best divers proceeded with the one-meter diving prelims, an event that top seed Liam Stone of Tennessee captured with a total score of 408.20.

This marks the New Zealand native’s first appearance in an one-meter diving final (he took 7th on the three-meter last year). He was trailing behind the leaders until the fourth round, then on the next one, he took control with his 75.00 point scoring Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Tuck. He holds tonight’s top seed after his Forward 2 1/2 Somersault 1 Twist Pike picked up a 76.80.

Ohio State’s Zhipeng Zeng made his biggest leap in the last two rounds. With big tallies of 81.60 on the Forward 2 1/2 Somersault 1 Twist Pike and 86.70 on the Inward 2 1/2 Somersault Pike, those dives launched him ahead of Quintero and within reach of Stone. The Buckeye posted a 402.00 to enter tonight’s final.

Arizona diver Rafael Quintero makes a repeat showing in the men’s one-meter as he took 8th place at least year’s NCAAs with a 347.70. He had control of this morning’s diving til the 4th round, which he posted a 258.30 after his Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Tuck. He also was besting Stone by this point and by a slim margin too, just 3.40 points worth of separation. His last two rounds couldn’t hold their own against Stone and Zeng, who zipped past him. Quintero takes a score of 390.90 heading into tonight.

With relevance to up/downs swims, or in this case diving, Tennessee placed two athletes in the top four. Texas has the potential to haul in points with Mark Anderson’s 5th place seed and Cory Bowersox’s tie for 9th, a feat no other top 5 predicted team was remotely able to do.

Men’s One-Meter Top 16

Place Score Diver Name Event
Avg
Score
Avg
Round
Score
1 408.20 Liam Stone (TENN) 7.61 68.03
2 402.00 Zhipeng Zeng (OSU) 7.03 67.00
3 390.90 Rafael Quintero (ARIZ) 7.31 65.15
4 378.60 Mauricio Robles Rodriguez (TENN) 6.81 63.10
5 369.05 Mark Anderson (TEX) 6.72 61.51
6 367.80 Dominic Giordano (PITT) 7.33 61.30
7 362.10 Briadam Herrera (MIAF) 6.47 60.35
8 360.90 Collin Pollard (USC) 6.67 60.15
9 358.40 Cory Bowersox (TEX) 6.64 59.73
9 358.40 Deon Reid (USC) 6.69 59.73
11 358.20 Bradley Homza (GT) 7.17 59.70
12 357.95 Josiah Purss (UTAH) 6.75 59.66
13 349.35 Manny Pollard (UMIN) 6.75 58.23
14 344.45 Sam Thornton (TAM) 6.44 57.41
15 344.35 Hector Garcia Boissier (PSU) 6.78 57.39
16 343.80 Bradley Christensen (STAN) 6.31 57.30

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Back2Back
8 years ago

Congrats on a great prelim Mark and good diving in the finals tonight! Go Horns!

About Stephen Parsons

Stephen Parsons

Stephen's swimming journey has taken him all across the Southeastern United States. Starting out at the Flowood, MS based Sunkist Swim Team, he made the transition to Auburn, AL where he competed the remainder of his high school years with Auburn Aquatics. His college career began at Daytona State College under the …

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