Herrera Wins 2nd Gold at ACCs, Fourth of Career

GREENSBORO, N.C. — For the second straight year, Miami sophomore diver Briadam Herrera completed a springboard sweep at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Herrera, who opened his run at the Greensboro Aquatic Center with a 3-meter win Thursday night, followed that up with a second trip to the podium in as many days. Herrera, who qualified for the night’s 1-meter finals with a score of 364.20 in preliminaries, captured ACC gold with a score of 436.60.

He bested Jack Nyquist (North Carolina, 407.95) and Dominic Giordano (Pittsburgh, 378.35) en route to victory. 

“Briadam is a hard worker with set goals,” assistant diving coach Dario di Fazio said. “He’s extremely powerful, and when competition comes around, he switches into what we call ‘beast mode.’ When all is done, he returns to being a very humble young man.”

The gold was the fourth career for Herrera, who has delivered stunning performances in the conference championships in his first two years as a Hurricane.

“Briadam is such a great competitor,” di Fazio said. “This meet serves as a stepping stone as we prepare for the NCAA Diving Championships. Our goal is to capture a national championship.”

Herrera’s medal-winning performance highlighted Day Two of the ACC Championships for Miami.

Junior swimmer Angela Algee scored points with a time of 22.89 in the “C” final of the 50 freestyle, while Miami’s 200 free relay team – comprised of sophomore Julie Suarez, senior My Fridell, sophomore Ksenia Yuskova and Algee – took ninth with a time of 1:31.35.

Fridell (23.37) and sophomore Rebeka Repman (23.41) also delivered strong times for the Hurricanes in the 50 free, but just missed out on second swims.

Junior Christina Leander narrowly missed out on qualifying with a time of 2:02.96 in the 200 IM, while Yuskova (4:53.87) and Davis (4:54.27) were just edged out in the 500 freestyle.

The Hurricanes ended the second day of competition in eighth place with 200 points.