Brittany Viola Shares NCAA Diver of the Year Honors

March 24, 2008

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami sophomore Brittany Viola was named one of three women’s divers to share the honor of 2008 NCAA Diver of the Year after her performance this past weekend at the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Ohio State University’s McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Viola, who claimed her first NCAA title Saturday night with a winning score of 362.60 in the 10-meter platform, shares the honor with Ohio State’s Chelsea Davis and Hawaii’s Emma Friesen.

Viola’s platform title was just the fourth individual championship in the history of the UM women’s diving program. She joins Jenny Keim, who owns UM’s two most recent women’s titles with wins in the 10-meter platform in 2000 and the three-meter springboard in 1999, and Wendy Williams, who won the program’s first championship in the 1999 platform, as the only Hurricanes to have won a championship.

Her winning score of 362.60 in the platform was the highest-scoring point total at the NCAA Championships since Indiana’s Cassandra Cardinell won the title with a mark of 501.45 in 2005.

Viola beat out Stanford’s Margaret Hostage (347.20) by 15.40 points to clinch her first NCAA title.

Two days before taking the platform title, Viola had earned All-American status for the second time in her career with a seventh-place finish of 296.00 in the one-meter springboard on Thursday.

As a freshman, Viola earned All-American status in the platform after a sixth place finish of 294.55 in last year’s NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. She also earned honorable mention status in 2007 for a 14th place finish of 291.35 in the three-meter.

Hawaii’s Friesen and OSU’s Davis were also recognized after winning the one- and three-meter events respectively. Both Friesen and Davis are also first-time NCAA champions.

Viola will now begin preparation for the 2008 Speedo USA Diving Spring National Championships, April 16-20, in Minneapolis, Minn.