Starks Heads to NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships

March 22, 2006

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami diver Derek Starks will compete in the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships slated to begin Thursday, March 23 and run through Saturday, March 25. The three-day championship meet will be held at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Ga. Competition will begin with the one-meter springboard preliminaries at 1:30 p.m Thursday.

Starks is a two-time All-American on the 10-meter platform. He gained an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships by finishing third in the event at the NCAA Zone B Championships with a score of 725.40. The Mission Viejo, Calif. native is also the reigning ACC Champion on both the one-meter and 10-meter platform events.

Last season at the NCAA Championships, Starks finished fourth on the 10-meter with a score of 508.60. He also garnered All-America Honorable Mention honors on the one-meter springboard.

The Hurricanes have a rich history at the NCAA Championships where the Miami men’s diving team has won 21 individual titles highlighted by three four-time NCAA Champions–Dean Panaro, Rio Ramirez and Tyce Routson. From 1991-2002, in one of the most impressive streaks in NCAA diving history, the Miami men’s and women’s diving teams combined for 20 individual NCAA titles. During which time, the Hurricanes won at least one national title for 12 consecutive seasons, naming at least two NCAA Champions for five consecutive seasons (1996-2000).

The last UM men’s diver to win an NCAA title was Imre Lengyel who took gold on the 10-meter platform in 2002.

Live scoring throughout the NCAA Championships can be accessed by clicking HERE.Updates will take place at the end of each even during both the prelims and finals. Full meet recaps and results following each day’s events can also be found on hurricanesports.com .