Leech Takes 27th on One-Meter Springboard
Saturday, March 15, 2008 | Men's Swimming & Diving
Jeana Bartell punched her ticket to Columbus, Ohio for the 2008 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships by finishing sixth on the three-meter spring board with a total of 560.15 points. Freshman Monica Dodson continued to perform well as she picked up her second top-10 finish of the 2008 Zone B Diving Championships, this time on the three-meter spring board at Auburn University.
Dodson, who finished ninth on the one-meter spring board yesterday, returned to total 557.15 for a seventh place finish. Jeana Bartell finished just ahead of Dodson with her total, after sitting in 11th place after the preliminaries with her score of 271.95. Bartell returned in the finals to total 288.20 points and move up to sixth place overall for the event. Dodson, who sat in 18th following preliminaries with her score of 261.75, improved her finals performance by nearly 34 points to finish with a final total of 295.40 and move up to seventh.
“Today was just a great day all-around,” said head diving coach Donnie Craine. “To have Monica (Dodson) move from 18th to seventh is phenomenal and to know that Jeana (Bartell) has officially qualified for the meet is a great feeling.”
Florida also got a total of 241.40 in preliminaries from senior Sarah Ellerby, who finished with a score of 241.40 for a 24th place showing. With a score of 239.41, Jennifer Funch followed Ellerby in 25th place while Whitney Stern totaled 209.40 points for a 41st place finish.
“This is one of the best group of girls that I have ever coached. Everybody was pulling for everyone, they all have great attitudes and for an individual sport, this is as great a team atmosphere as you could ask for,” said Craine.
Florida's lone representative on the men's side, Aaron Leech, turned in a 27th place showing on the one-meter springboard, totaling 257.95 points.
“Aaron did a great job today as well,” said Craine. “He dove about as well as he has during his career and had a wonderful day. He also did a great job supporting the girls and getting them through that finals round.”
Complete results for the meet can be found by going to www.auburntigers.com. Tomorrow marks the final day of competition for the Zone B Championships and the final 12 women and 10 men will be named as NCAA qualifiers once all scores on all boards have been totaled.
The championships will continue tomorrow with the men's one-meter springboard and the women's three-meter. The meet has brought together the nation's best divers from 25 universities and colleges across the southeastern United States.
