Hurricanes' Reuben Ross Takes 1-meter Diving Title at ACC's
Feb. 20, 2009
College Park, Md. – Junior men’s diver Reuben Ross took first place in back-to-back days at the Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, collecting the 1-meter springboard title at the Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium in College Park, Md. Ross won the 3-meter title yesterday for the Hurricanes.
After taking first place in the men’s 3-meter event yesterday, Ross claimed top honors on Friday evening with a score of 453.10 in the finals of the 1-meter springboard. Ross had finished in second place behind eventual finals second place finisher Terry Horner of Florida State in the preliminaries. Horner had beaten Ross in their previous head-to-head match-up in the season-opener for the Hurricanes back in October at the Whitten University Pool in Coral Gables.
In the women’s 3-meter event, senior Jenna Dreyer finished second with a total score of 382.80 … finishing behind top place finisher freshman Abby Johnston (Duke) who totaled 414.45 in her final round of dives. Junior NCAA Champion Brittany Viola’s quest for consecutive sweeps at the ACC Championships was denied as she finished third in the event with a score of 357.90.
Over on the swimming lanes, Miami continues to burn hot times in the water for third-year head coach Christie Shefchunas.
In the 100 breaststroke, freshman Dana Hatic posted a school-record mark of 1:01.93 to finish ninth overall for the Hurricanes as she also amassed an NCAA `B’ cut qualifying mark in the event. The previous-best time for UM stood since 1999 when Rhiannon Leir (1:02.46) set the mark. Senior Britta Boesing punched in at 1:02.57 in the finals to post her season-best performance for the event after finishing with a mark of 1:03.14 in the preliminaries. Fellow senior Katie Eason also had a season-best time with her finish of 1:03.46 on the day.
The 400 medley relay squad, consisting of Boesing (leadoff), Dana Hatic (second leg), Cori Lallier (third leg) and Annika Saarnak (anchor) set yet another school-record time with their finish of 3:43.42, finishing ninth overall.
The Hurricanes established a new school time after the previous mark was helped to be set by 2008 Summer Olympic Gold Medalist Manon van Rooijen (Netherlands) back in 2002, with the help of teammates Johns, Williams and MacLennan at UM.
In the 200 freestyle, it was redshirt freshman Lauren Jacoby touching at a team season-best mark of 1:49.50 for the Orange and Green, while teammate Annika Saarnak took center stage with an NCAA `B’ cut qualifying mark of 1:48.04. Saarnak earned her second NCAA `B’ cut mark for the tournament, and the fourth overall for UM.
Ryann Labreche finished at 1:51.07 overall–her season-best performance for the event.
Junior Cori Lallier picked up a team-best time for the 2008-09 campaign in the 100 butterfly with a performance of 55.25 seconds. Teammate Annika Saarnak touched the wall at 55.62 seconds, also a personal-best time for her on the year. Meanwhile, Deidre Novotny followed that up yet another season-best performance of 55.95, while freshman Erin Simpson finished in at 57.18.
Overall, the Hurricanes are now eighth overall with a total score of 158 points through three complete days of action. They have steadily jumped up the boards since the first day (10th) and then the second (9th).
Tomorrow’s action will be streamed live over the internet via ACC Select by visiting www.accselect.com. You can find more information on the entire event by visiting www.theacc.com.
For more information on the ACC Championships for swimming and diving, please visit http://www.theacc.com/sports/c-swim/09-sd-championship.html.
