March 6, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn's men gained another entry to the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships as sophomore John Santeiu earned a qualifying spot in the meet with his performance Tuesday at the NCAA Zone B Diving Regional, which continues through Wednesday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
Santieu finished runner-up in the men's 1-meter final to earn the No. 4 priority qualifying position and guarantee his spot at the NCAA Men's Championships, which run March 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash. His score of 688.90 finished less than a point ahead of Tennessee's Ryan Helms, the SEC 1- and 3-meter champion, to earn his first trip to the national meet.
In addition, senior women's diver Vennie Dantin made it two-for-two on the week as she added the championship in the 3-meter final to her title in Monday's 1-meter event. The top three in the women's 3-meter final were also part of the top four in the 1-meter championship.
"Again, overall, a pretty good day today," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We had some good dives, and we had some missed opportunities. We have a great opportunity tomorrow to get one or two more divers to the meet. It all depends on who shows up mentally and who is consistent in doing what they've done all year long."
Santeiu was right on the cutline heading into the final round, but posted a score of 69.75 on his final dive, an inward 2.5 somersault, to vault ahead of Helms to second place. Florida State's Thomas Neubacher took the 1-meter title with a 735.55, and Helms was third. By virtue of Helms already having a qualifying spot from Monday's 3-meter event, North Carolina's David MacDonald earned a berth to the NCAA Championships with the next priority qualifying spot. The final two men's NCAA bids will be determined with Wednesday's platform event.
"John was outstanding," Shaffer said. "He did what we train to do, just be consistent and give yourself a chance on the last dive to punch your ticket to Seattle. We're really proud of his efforts."
Freshman Fraser McKean also advanced to the final, scoring a 630.00 to finish in 10th place overall. Senior Adam Godzinski was 18th with a 12-dive total of 587.85, and Michael Beran finished 21st with a preliminary score of 273.45.
On the women's side, Dantin was the second qualifier out of the preliminaries, but steadily made up ground on South Carolina senior Courtney Forcucci, the SEC 3-meter champion, throughout the final. The two were separated by less than a point with one dive apiece left; Dantin scored a 58.80 on her back twister, and Forcucci posted a 54.00 on her inward 2.5 somersault. Dantin finished with a 674.85, Forcucci with a 670.75.
"Sometimes it's a little bit difficult when you come in and make the meet on day one to come back in and get refocused and still do a good job," Shaffer said. "We were a little bit off on a few things, but I'm really proud of the way Vennie competed. Now we just need to finish out the meet strong tomorrow with great platform performances."
Dantin, Forcucci and Tennessee's Tori Lamp took the top three spots with Miami's Thea Vock finishing fourth. With the top three finishers already qualified, Miami's Kara McCormack and Florida State's Ariel Rittenhouse moved into qualifying positions for the NCAA Championships. In addition, the third-place finisher in Wednesday's platform final will earn an NCAA bid along with the top two spots that were already slotted for automatic berths.
Senior Anna Aguero finished 13th in the final with a 608.65, and freshman Cinzia Calabretta barely missed the final with a 19th-place prelims score of 284.60. Freshman Shanna Schuelein was 20th in prelims with a 283.95.
Men's platform preliminaries get underway at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with finals to follow. The women's platform event begins with prelims at 3:30 p.m., and will be immediately followed by the final. Admission is free and open to the public. Live results are available through DiveMeets.com, and fans can follow @AuburnSwimming on Twitter for periodic updates throughout the meet.