Velazquez Earns Birth at NCAA Diving Championships

March 13, 2004

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Junior two-time All-American Miguel Velazquez (Mexico City, Mexico) secured his third consecutive trip to the NCAA Diving Championships with a fourth-place in the men’s one-meter springboard finals Saturday at the NCAA Zone B Diving Trials at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.

Velazquez carried a second-place score of 336.70 in Saturday’s prelims in the finals where he finished fourth overall with a mark of 662.75, highlighted by his fourth dive, and inward dive with two and a half somersaults, in the final round that earned a score of 63.55 on a degree of difficulty of 3.1.

The Hurricanes’ Derek Starks (Mission Veijo, Calif.) also competed in the one-meter, but failed to qualify for the finals.

On the women’s side, Emily Spychala (Tampa, Fla.) finished 10th with a score of 479.65 in the women’s three-meter springboard, while Heather Bounds (Austin, Texas) 23rd with a mark of 263.95.

The Hurricanes return Sunday for the final day of competiton with the women’s platform beginning at 10 a.m. followed by the men at 12:30 p.m.