Hillen Named Alternate at NCAA Diving Regionals
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Scott Hillen of the Ithaca College men's swimming and diving team will serve as an alternate after competing against 15 other divers over the weekend at the NCAA Region Four Diving Championships for one of six available spots to the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C. March 16-19. Hillen competed on the 3-meter board in an 11-dive format on Friday, before completing the meet on Saturday on the 1-meter board.
National qualifiers were determined by alternating between the Day 1 highest finisher and the Day 2 highest finisher, with divers already invited being skipped if they come up again. Divers who advanced to nationals will be permitted to compete on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, regardless of which board(s) they qualifed on at regionals.
On Friday, Hillen finished seventh overall in the 3-meter dive after earning 451.50 points. Aaron Carlson of Fredonia won the event and a spot in the NCAA championship with 549.45 points in all.
Hillen would go on to finish eighth in the 1-meter dive on Saturday after coming away with 438.65 total points. Geneseo's Samuel Randall won the event with 523.10 points.
OFFICIAL NATIONAL QUALIFIERS:
1) Aaron Carlson (Fredonia) (1st place, 3 meter)
2) Samuel Randall (Geneseo) (1st place, 1 meter)
3) Johnathan Morris (Rowan) (2nd place, 3 meter)
4) Rafael Santiago (Fredonia) (2nd place, 1 meter)
5) Gabe Arias (Brockport) (5th place, 3 meter) (since Randall was 3rd and Santiago was 4th)
6) Gabriel Bamforth (Carnegie Mellon) (6th place, 1 meter) (since Carlson was 3rd, Morris was 4th and Arias was 5th)
Alternates:
Lee Wade (Cortland) (7th place, 1 meter)