The 2008 Men’s Division I NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships begin on Thursday, March 27, at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash. Diving will begin with the one-meter springboard preliminaries on Thursday afternoon. Preliminaries on Thursday and Friday will begin at 2:00 p.m., and at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Finals for all events will begin at 7:00 p.m. All times listed are Pacific Standard Time.
Live action can be viewed on the NCAA website. You must sign up to watch the action, but login is free.
Who To Watch
One-Meter Springboard
One name - Chris Colwill. This Georgia senior will be favored in both springboard events and looks recapture the NCAA springboard titles he won in 2006. After redshirting in 2007, Colwill will make a bid for his second NCAA Diver of the Year award. That doesn’t mean that the other divers are just going to hand him the trophy. With half of the field from one-meter returning from last year, including 2007 champion Terry Horner of Florida State, the battle should be tight. Divers to watch include Horner, Ruben Ross (Miami), Kelly Marx (Auburn), Magnus Frick (Hawaii), Taylor Roberts (Indiana), Landon Marzullo (Indiana), Michele Benedetti (Arizona State), J.J. Kinzbach (Miami).
Three-meter Springboard
With Colwill again the favorite, the battle may be for second place. Horner, Frick, and Jeremy Stultz (Pittsburgh) return from the finals a year ago. Add an interesting mix of freshman and the contest could get interesting. Freshmen J.J. Kinzbach (Miami) and Landon Marzullo (Indiana) could both be dangerous should misfortune come upon Colwill. Michele Benedetti from Arizona State won the three-meter and platform events at the Zone E Championships and will likely be in the mix. Divers to watch include Horner, Ross, Marx, Frick, Marzullo, Kinzbach, Benedetti, Stultz, Alex Volovetski (Pittsburgh).
Platform
The platform competition will be a more wide-open contest than the springboard events. Michele Benedetti was the runner-up in this event last year to Steve Segerlin of Auburn. Now that Segerlin has graduated, it looks to be his event, right? Maybe, but it’s not going to be that easy. Three additional finalists from last year return - Ruben Ross (Miami), Kelly Marx (Auburn), and Daniel Mazzaferro (Auburn), and with a host of other good platform divers, it should be a battle just to get into finals. Divers to watch include Benedetti, Ross, Marx, Mazzaferro, David Colturi (Purdue), Michael Wong (Texas), J.J. Kinzbach, Steven Starks (USC), Wes Wieser (Ohio State), Sean Moore (Ohio State). Oh, don't forget Colwill, he will be competing on platform.
NCAA Men’s Diver of the Year
Best bet for diver of the year – Chris Colwill. What else can you say? He has won this award before and if his recent success at the FINA Diving World Cup is any indication, he is ready to grab his second NCAA Diver of the Year award.
2008 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championship Diving Schedule
Thursday, March 27
One-meter Preliminaries – 2:00 p.m.
One-meter Finals –7:00 p.m.*
Friday, March 22
Three-meter Preliminaries – 2:00 p.m.
Three-meter Finals – 7:00 p.m.*
Saturday, March 22
Platform Preliminaries – 1:30 p.m.
Platform Finals – 7:00 p.m.*
*Finals for both swimming and diving begin at 7:00
All times listed are Pacific Standard Time.