March 23, 2006
ATLANTA - Evan Watters became the first male diver, and second overall, in the 40-year history of the Missouri Swimming and Diving program to earn All-America honors at the NCAA National Championships when he carded a 293.25 on the 1-meter board Friday afternoon to finish 12th in the event and garner second-team All-America status.
Watters' effort on Friday made him the 13th All-American in program history and the first since Matt Ferrarelli in 2003. Denise Buchheister is the only other Mizzou diver to finish in the top 16 at NCAA Nationals, earning All-America honors I n 1979, '81 and '82.
The senior from San Antonio also became the first male diver in Mizzou history to score points at the national meet, bringing home five points by way of his 12th-place showing.
"He was on today and he was hitting his dives," Mizzou diving coach James Sweeney said. "Evan's usually a little rough on his first day and he gets better as the meet goes on, so this is an encouraging sign. Hopefully he'll be in his groove for the rest of the meet and we can build on today's success."
Watters got off to a good start on his first dive, scoring 50.70 points on a 2.5 somersault with a 2.6 degree of difficulty. His next dive, a back 2.5 somersault with a DD of 3.0, yielded him 49.50 points and put him right in the thick of the competition. Watters' third dive turned out to be his best of the day, as he scored 54.00 points on a reverse 2.5 somersault with a DD of 3.0. He carded 46.80 points on his fourth dive, a reverse 1.5 somersault with 1.5 twists and a DD of 2.6, and then earned 41.85 on an inward 2.5 somersault with a 3.1 DD on his fifth dive. He capped off his day with an inward 1.5 somersault with a DD of 2.4 that added 50.40 points to his score and gave him his 293.25 total.
The Mizzou record holder on the 1 and 3-meter boards was the second-highest finisher out of Zone D on the 1-meter board, placing ahead of Philip Griffin of Southern Methodist University (13th), Bailey Gao of Texas (18th) and Kelly McClain of Texas Christian University (23rd) and only trailing finals-qualifier Eric Sehn of Texas A&M.
Watters and the rest of the field will take to the boards again tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. CT for prelims on the 3-meter board. Finals for the event will commence at approximately 6 p.m. CT. For more information, including a schedule of events and live scoring, please log on to www. ramblinwreck.com - the official site of Georgia Tech athletics.