March 28, 2008
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Mizzou sophomore Greg DeStephen took his place among the nation's diving elite on Friday with his 12th-place finish in 3-meter diving at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. The Columbus, Ohio, native's finish, which ties Evan Watters' 2006 showing for the highest ever by a Tiger men's diver at NCAAs, makes him just the second All-America diver in program history. Following fellow Tiger Kendra Melnychuk's performances at last week's women's championships, DeStephen also becomes Mizzou Swimming and Diving's second All-American in as many weeks.
"Greg did a great job of bouncing back after yesterday's slip-up," Mizzou Diving Coach Jamie Sweeney said. "He was a little cautious in prelims, but came out firing in consols. We're proud of the way he was able to put everything together today to become an All-American. It's great that Dante is getting some valuable experience out here at NCAAs, too."
After an unfortunate slip off the board during his fourth dive in Thursday's 1-meter competition, DeStephen was out for redemption on day two. In the afternoon's prelims, the sophomore standout got things going with a score of 55.50 on his first dive. There was more where that came from, as he received an award of 61.50 and a pair of scores in the upper 50s for three of his following five dives. At the close of the round he had compiled a six-dive score of 322.70, good enough for 15th place and a spot in consolation finals.
With a renewed sense of confidence, the Ohioan continued his tear in consols. After registering a trio of tallies above 60.00 in his first three dives, DeStephen closed the session in style with his highest score of the round, 66.70, for an overall score of 350.30 and a 12th-place finish.
Tiger rook Dante Jones was also in action on Friday. The Columbia native posted one of the highest individual dive scores of the day for a freshman, 68.00, but only registered one other dive of 50.00 or better. He finished in the 31st spot with an overall score of 275.15.
The third and final day of NCAA diving action at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center is set to begin with platform diving prelims Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CST. Check mutigers.com for live results and live streaming of the day's events.
Tigers' Results by Round
Preliminaries
15. Greg DeStephen (322.70) - 55.50 / 61.50 / 57.40 / 40.50 / 58.50 / 49.30
31. Dante Jones (275.15) - 50.40 / 49.50 / 26.25 / 40.50 / 68.00 / 40.50
Consolation Finals
4. DeStephen (350.30) - 61.50 / 64.50 / 61.60 / 37.50 / 58.50 / 66.70