Herrera Opens Men's Diving NCAA Trip Thursday
AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Miami men’s diving team begins its much anticipated trip to the 2019 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday at the Lee & Joe Jamail Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus.
Redshirt senior Briadam Herrera, who swept the springboard with two gold medals at last month’s ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, will compete on the 1-meter Thursday afternoon, with prelims set for a 1:15 p.m. ET start time.
Herrera will also compete in Friday’s 3-meter; redshirt junior David Dinsmore and sophomore Zach Cooper don’t compete until Saturday’s platform event.
“I’m very excited for this competition,” Herrera said. “I’ve been here a couple of times already, and I’ve never been able to get the championship. I’ve been working pretty hard with Randy [Ableman] towards this championship and I’m very excited for tomorrow.”
Herrera, who missed last year’s NCAA Championships during a redshirt season, finished as high as second in the 3-meter springboard at the 2017 NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.
“I’ve put in some hard work in the weight room, trying to get stronger,” Herrera said. “Naturally I’m a pretty strong diver, so these dives are easier for me than a lot of others. But I’ve put in some work and I’ve tried to polish my dives through the semester, getting ready for this competition.”
Ableman said he is especially proud of Herrera, who defected from Cuba at the age of 14 and has since become an American citizen with hopes of making the U.S. Diving team for the next Olympics.
“He deserves to leave with a title,” Ableman said. “Whether he gets that or not isn’t totally on him. There’s a lot of great divers here. Hopefully he does what he can do and he’s in position to win on that last dive.”
Herrera said he is excited to compete for the last time as a Hurricane alongside Cooper and Dinsmore.
“Outside of the pool, we’re very close friends. This is the tightest I’ve ever been with a team…it’s been awesome,” Herrera said. “We’ve always had great chemistry. I’m really happy with these two. They’re very talented, and it should be a great competition this week.”
Herrera, who has totaled five All-America honors, six ACC gold medals and an ACC Diver of the Year award during his illustrious career, begins his final run with the 1-meter, where he will complete a dive sheet that ranks among the toughest in the competition.
“Hopefully we can make the finals and really light it up,” Ableman said. Hopefully it’ll all come together, and all the hard work will have been worth it.”
