Dinsmore Dominates, Wins ACC Platform Gold Medal

ATLANTA — University of Miami redshirt freshman diver David Dinsmore capped the Hurricanes’ run at the 2017 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships in spectacular fashion Thursday night, earning his first career ACC gold in the platform event at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center.

To call Dinsmore’s performance in Friday night’s final dominant would be an understatement. The Ohio native finished with a blistering score of 517.65, besting the second-place Dylan Grisell (391.95) of Florida State by over 110 points to cruise to his first ACC medal.

“It was an unbelievable performance by Dinsmore,” head diving coach Randy Ableman said. “He put on an Olympic-type performance tonight. It wasn’t about winning his first conference title, it was about showing people what he could do.”

Dinsmore bested the pool record previously set by Zhipeng Zhang of Ohio State (509.25) in March 2016. After Dinsmore recorded perfect scores on his first dive, Ableman said he could feel the potential for a special night.

“I looked in his eye and I knew he was locked in and I knew we were in for a special night of him just putting on a performance,” Ableman said. “He didn’t have to do his last dive to win. It was more about just nailing every dive, and he did. He beat the pool record. He put on a show tonight.”

The win was especially sweet for Dinsmore, who missed his freshman season of 2015-16 with an injury.

“It made me proud. He has had a tough year, with a bad back and everything,” Ableman said. “This was some sweet redemption. This really sends a message that he’s going to be a serious player at the NCAA Championships and for every meet he’s in for the rest of his career.”