Feb. 2, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Auburn senior Steven Segerlin won the men's 1-meter and sophomore Corey Gerlach won the women's 3-meter as the divers opened the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships Friday at the Lancaster Aquatics Center in Lexington, Ky.
Both Segerlin and Gerlach trailed going into their final dives, but both nailed their last dives to claim the first two titles of the SEC meet. In addition, Auburn had four of the top seven finishers on the men's 1-meter board, rolling up 61 points towards their SEC Championships total, while the women's team also had a fifth-place finish from Lynnsey Segraves.
"It doesn't get much better than that," said Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer. "We talked last night about everybody having the opportunity to step up and dive in the finals and what it would take, and having the attitude and will to win as well as being confident in what they're doing. They've trained hard all year and I couldn't be more proud of day one of the SECs. Hopefully this puts us on a roll for tomorrow's events, but I couldn't be more proud of the effort today."
Segerlin trailed Florida's Jonathan Wilcox by nearly eight points entering the final round of dives, but nailed an inward 2.5 tuck, scoring at least an 8.0 from every judge for a total of 74.5 points on his final dive, easily passing Wilcox who scored just 43.5 points on his final dive. Segerlin's final point total of 380.50 was a season high and a new facility record and just missed his school record of 382.80 set last year.
Segerlin won his second career SEC diving championship, but his first on 1-meter. He became the first Auburn diver to win the men's 1-meter event since Jose Rocha in 1989, and remains undefeated on the 1-meter board this season.
"I guess I left it a little exciting there at the end," said Segerlin. "I made a mental mistake on the second dive that made it a little tighter than my coach and I wanted. But we practice staying consistent in our training at home and not letting little things shake you and it worked out in the end. We put that final dive at the end because it's my money dive and it's there for those situations."
Freshman Kelly Marx, who was seventh in the prelims earlier in the day, finished in third place with a career-best score of 345.30. His previous high was 309.55 at the Georgia Tech Diving Invitational. Freshman Daniel Mazzaferro placed sixth with a score of 323.40, while sophomore Scott Morgan finished seventh with a score of 317.95. Both Mazzaferro and Morgan also had season bests.
 Corey Gerlach  | |
Much like Segerlin, Gerlach trailed Kentucky's Taryn Ignacio by 10.4 points entering her final dive - a reverse 1.5 somersaults with 2.5 twists. But Gerlach posted scores ranging from 7.0 to 8.5 while Ignacio scores mostly 6.0s, and Gerlach edged Ignacio, 354.00 to 352.80. It was the first SEC title for Gerlach, who placed no higher than 10th on any of the three boards last year. Gerlach is just the second Auburn woman to win the 3-meter event, joining Marina Smith (1993).
"It's inspiring to have teammates do well before you," said Gerlach. "I knew if I didn't put myself under a lot of pressure I'd be able to do it just fine. I was very pleased. I didn't do very well at the conference meet last year so I kept an open mind this year to do my very best."
Segraves, who was second in the prelims with a season-best score of 316.15, posted a score of 310.60 in the finals to finish fifth.
The diving competition will continue Saturday with the prelims and finals of the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter events. The platform competition will be held Sunday. The swimming competition will be held Feb. 7-10.