Jenna Dreyer Finishes Eighth at NCAA Championships
March 19, 2009
College Station, Texas – University of Miami senior diver Jenna Dreyer finished in eighth place of the 1-meter springboard diving event Thursday evening, collecting her third career All-America honor in the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving National Championships at College Station, Texas. This year’s event is hosted by Texas A&M University inside the Student Recreation Natatorium.
Dreyer, a fifth-year senior from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, was sidelined for the entire 2007-08 season with injury. But she has bounced back with an amazing work ethic and determination in 2008-09, to continue the diving tradition instilled at the University of Miami under head coach Randy Ableman.
Dreyer finished the finals of the 1-meter springboard with a score of 296.25 to collect her third All-America award at UM. She also received the award in 2005 and again in 2007 for the 1-meter event. She would finish as an honorable mention All-American on the 3-meter springboard in 2007.
In the preliminaries of this year’s 1-m championship, Dreyer stood in eighth place after her final dive, posting a score of 282.70 in the round. She would sit in sixth place after her first two dives of the finals, but remarkable performances by Anastasia Pozdniakova (Houston) and Christina Loukas (Indiana) allowed them to push the scores higher up the board, making room for Kathryn Kelly (Texas) to move ahead of Dreyer on her third attempt.
Pozdniakova, with a score of 351.15, took the title for the event, followed by Loukas (339.80) and Emma Friesen of Hawai’i (331.365) rounded out the top three performers in the event finals.
Brittany Viola, a junior diver for UM from Orlando, finished in 16th position after the preliminary rounds, forcing her into the consolation finals of the event. After collecting a score of 270.55 in the prelims, Viola bounced back to net a 301.60 score in the consolation finals. Viola would bounce back to finish second on the round.
A year ago, Viola finished seventh in the 1-meter springboard, earning All-American status in the process.
The diving action continues for the Hurricanes tomorrow as both Dreyer and Viola will take part in the 3-meter springboard event.
For more information on the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving National Championships, please locate your internet browser to http://www.aggieathletics.com/ncaawsimstats.html. Once there, you will find live scoring, results and information pertaining to this year’s championships.
For more information on the University of Miami swimming & diving programs, please locate your internet browser to www.hurricanesports.com.
