Gator Divers To Open Championship Season In Lexington
Thursday, February 1, 2007 | Men's Swimming & Diving
The eighth-ranked University of Florida men's swimming and diving team (8-5, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) will look for a quick start to the championship season when sophomore Jonathan Wilcox (Bellevue, Wash.) and senior Justin Schmidt (Falcon, Colo.) represent the Gators at the SEC Diving Championships from Feb. 2-4 in Lexington, Ky.
“Last weekend, we finally stepped up and dove well,” Florida diving coach Donnie Craine said. “Both of these guys are capable of making the finals in all three events. If we improve a little bit over how we dove last weekend, we'll have a productive conference meet.”
Wilcox earned two All-SEC honors last season after finishing sixth in the 1M dive (300.65) and seventh on the platform (238.35) at last season's conference championships. The reigning SEC Men's Diver of the Week heads into the postseason after winning a combined 13 events during his sophomore campaign. A 2006 All-American on the 1M board, he took first place in that discipline eight times in 2006-07, while also earning five victories in the 3M dive. Each of his wins this season has come via an NCAA Zone-qualifying score, and he accumulated 17 such marks during the regular season. Wilcox set school records on consecutive days over the Gators' season-ending homestand, posting a score of 436.13 on the 3M board against Tennessee to break his own UF standard, and turning in a score of 373.50 in the 1M dive against FAU to best the mark set by his older brother, former Florida All-American Zach Wilcox.
“Jonathan is great acrobat and he's very pretty in the air,” Craine said. “He can miss a dive here and there because his degree of difficulty is so high that it makes up for his mistake.”
Schmidt is also a two-time All-SEC performer, having placed fourth on the platform (318.05) and sixth on the 1M board (293.15). A three-year letterwinner and the elder statesman of this year's Gator divers, he owns season bests of 285.68 in the 1M dive and 400.58 in the 3M dive. His score on the latter board also represents a career high. Schmidt picked up one win this season, pacing the field on the 3M board against Indian River Community College with a score of 288.08.
“Justin may not be a very pretty diver, but he's big and strong,” Craine said. “When he gets in the air, he looks really good. He's coming into his own at the end of the season, which is what we train for the whole year.”
Zach Wilcox earned Florida's last SEC diving championship in 2003, taking the crown in the 1M dive. The last Gator to win the platform at the conference meet was Jeff Nichols in 1996, and UF's last conference title in the 3M dive came from Scott Fosdick in 1985. Fosdick won both the 1M and 3M events in 1985, making him the last Gator to claim multiple SEC titles in one year.
Live scoring for the SEC Diving Championships will be available at www.ukathletics.com. Competition is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EST each day. See the following schedule for more details (all times EST).
Friday, Feb. 2
11-Noon Men's 1M Prelims
2:30-3:30 p.m. Women's 3M Prelims
6-6:30 p.m. Men's 1M Final
7-7:30 p.m. Women's 3M Final
Saturday, Feb. 3
11-12:30 p.m. Women's 1M Prelims
2:30-3:30 p.m. Men's 3M Prelims
6-6:30 p.m. Women's 1M Final
7-7:30 p.m. Men's 3M Final
Sunday, Feb. 4
11-Noon Women's Platform Prelims
1-2 p.m. Men's Platform Prelims
2:30-3 p.m. Women's Platform Finals
3:30-4 p.m. Men's Platform Finals
- UF -
