Miami Celebrates Trio of National Champions!
April 23, 2008
CORAL GABLES – The University of Miami had three individual National Champions this spring, women’s track and field’s Krista Simkins and divers Brittany Viola and Reuben Ross. Wednesday they were joined by UM students, faculty and staff at a celebratory reception at the UC Student Lounge.
After words of thanks from each of the student-athletes, President Donna E. Shalala commended each on their accomplishments as well as thank their coaches, Amy Deem (track and field) and Randy Ableman (diving), for all their hard work.
Simkins won the NCAA National Title in the indoor 400-meter dash in <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Fayetteville, Ark. March 15. With her time of 52.16 Simkins became the sixth Hurricane in program history to win a National Championship, the last title went to Tabia Charles in 2006 in the triple jump.
The now two-time All-American won the 400-meters a day after breaking the school record in the event with a time of 51.95. The ACC Indoor Champion in the 200 and 400-meter dashes was also named the 2008 ACC Indoor Track Perfomer of the Year.
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Ross scored a 466.80 in the men’s three-meter springboard for his first individual title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship in Federal Way, Wash. on March 29. The sophomore from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, beat out eventual NCAA Diver of the Year Chris Colwill of Georgia by 6.35 points for the championship. The title for Ross was Miami’s 22nd men’s diving title all-time and the first since Imre Lengyel won the men’s 10-meter platform in 2002. Ross’ win also marked the first for UM in the men’s three-meter springboard since Tyce Routson came away with the title in 1997.
Viola, a native of Orlando, Fla., became just the third women’s diver in UM history to win an NCAA Championship when she was victorious in the platform event at the 2008 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship in Columbus, Ohio on March 22. Viola joined Jenny Keim, who owns UM’s two most recent 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 an NCAA women’s diving title.
Viola would go on to earn NCAA Tri-Diver of the Year while both Viola and Ross earned ACC Divers of the Year accolades as well. The pair combined to earn All-American status on five occasions at the championships, with Ross reaching the final eight in the one-meter, three-meter and platform and Viola in the one-meter and platform.
