March 28, 2008

• NCAA Championship Results and Coverage
  

Seminoles' Terry Horner and Scott Baker Earn All-American Honors At 2008 NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Florida State sophomore diver Terry Horner and junior swimmer Scott Baker can call themselves All-Americans Thursday night as the pair earned top eight finishes at the 2008 NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Wash. Horner placed third on the one-meter board a year after winning a National Championship and Baker finished seventh in the 50 freestyle taking home the Seminoles first top eight finish in the event since 1999. The two have Florida State in 14th place with 28 points.

"I'm really excited, it was a really close competition and I gave it my all," Horner said. "I was really pleased with how I dove."

"That was my goal when I got here, to be an All-American as a junior," Baker said. "I was shocked when I saw the time, I was really surprised."

Horner came up against the best divers in America in the one-meter finals. The Orlando, Fla. native used a consistent array of dives to score 396.15 points to finish with the bronze medal. Horner finished behind the 2006 National Champion on the one-meter Chris Colwill of Georgia and last years' runner-up Magnus Frick of Hawaii.

Miami's Ross Places Sixth In One-Meter Final at NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - University of Miami sophomore diver Reuben Ross earned All-American status with a sixth place finish of 375.85 in the one-meter finals Thursday night at the 2008 Men's Swimming & Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center.

Ross, who also placed sixth in Thursday afternoon's preliminary session, was in a group of seven divers in a close battle for the top spot in the finals. Georgia's Chris Colwill prevailed in the end with a score of 407.25, with the next six divers all scoring above 360.00.

UM's other diver competing this weekend, freshman J.J. Kinzbach, missed the cut for the finals after placing 30th with a mark of 241.80 during the prelims.

UNC Swims Three Career Bests At NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - University of North Carolina men's swimmers swam on trio of career best times on the opening day of the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Swimming & Diving Championships being hosted by the University of Washington. Senior Philip Owen and freshman Joe Kinderwater had career best times in the 500-yard freestyle and freshman Tyler Harris had his personal best time in the 200-yard individual medley.

Senior Ryan Funderburk finished 21st Thursday in one-meter diving with a score of 300.10 points.

Owen, Kinderwater and Harris all had career best times and beat their seed placings in their events on Thursday.

Philip Owen finished 31st in the 500-yard freestyle at 4:22.78, his career best time and eight places better than his No. 39 seeding. Owen's previous career best was 4:22.95 set at this year's ACC Championships.

Virginia's McLean Earns Fourth-Place Finish in 500 Free

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - The Virginia men's swimming team was off to a solid start Thursday at the 2008 NCAA Championships, thanks to a fourth-place finish in the 500 free by first-year Matt McLean. McLean swam a time of 4:14.10, a new ACC record, in the event to earn first-team All-America honors and earned 15 points for the Orange and Blue after day one. The event is being held at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., and runs through Saturday.

Arizona leads the field with 137 points while Texas (116) is second and California (112) is third. The Cavaliers are currently in 18th place.

McLean, the 2008 Swimmer of the Championships at the annual Atlantic Coast Conference meet, bested his prelim time by more than two seconds after swimming a mark of 4:16.27 earlier in the day. In the finals, McLean also broke the conference record of 4:15.91 that he set at the ACC Championships last month. Meanwhile, classmate Taylor Smith finished in 20th place in the event after swimming a time of 4:20.72 and John Snawerdt was 28th, touching at 4:22.51.

Virginia Tech's McDonald Finishes 11th in the 1-Meter at the NCAAs

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Virginia Tech sophomore Mikey McDonald (Annandale, Va.) made history as he became the first-ever H2Okie to earn All-America honorable mention honors in a diving event as he finished 11th in the 1-meter during day one of the 2008 Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center outside of Seattle.

McDonald finished 15th after six dives in the prelim at 310.25 with Ohio State's Sean Moore taking 16th at 310.20 and Texas' Matthew Cooper missing out on reaching the consolation final by finishing 17th at 310.00. McDonald performed even better in the final with six more dives as he took third, 11th-overall, with a score of 337.30.

"He had a real steady consistent performance to make it in the top-16, which was really hard to do," diving coach Ron Piemonte said. "He just did a spectacular job, and it was really exciting and fun to watch. He's worked real hard this year, so it was nice to see it all come together.

NC State's Mellor Completes First Day at NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Redshirt junior Stephen Mellor completed his first day at the 2008 NCAA Championships on Thursday, March 27, by competing in the 200-IM. The Chesire, England native placed 36th in the prelims, clocking in at 1:47.77.

Mellor will return to the pool on Saturday, March 29, for the 200-back where he is seeded 19th overall.