The ASU men’s diving team sent two freshmen to represent them at the 2010 NCAA Championships, and they represented the Sun Devils well.
Riley McCormick left the competition with a silver medal on the 10-meter platform with a score of 469.50, while Constantin Blaha set a new ASU record on the 3-meter springboard (457.05) to win the consolation final and place ninth overall at the McCorckle Aquatic Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Both athletes brought a wealth of experience with them to the competition. McCormick finished first on the 10-meter at the Pac-10 Champsionship and the Zone E Championships. Blaha earned a gold medal on the 3-meter and silver on the 1-meter at the Pac-10 meet, and he also earned second on the platform and the 3-meter and third on the 1-meter at the Zone E Championships.
While both divers are former Olympians, the NCAA Championships was a completely new experience that brought new challenges.
The meet was originally set to start Thursday but was delayed a day because several top-performing schools had their athletes get sick.
The first event Blaha and McCormick competed in was the 1-meter springboard, where Blaha placed 21st with a mark of 330.15 and McCormick placed 24th.
Neither diver made it to the podium on the 3-meter springboard after Blaha’s score of 402.25 in the preliminaries was not enough to qualify him for the finals.
“Coco had one bad dive that cost him the championship final,” ASU diving coach Mark Bradshaw said, according to ASU media relations. “He regrouped and was lights out in the consolation final. He was back to the Coco I know. It was nice to see.”
McCormick sat the 3-meter event out in order to rest up for his favored event — the 10-meter platform.
Blaha placed fourth in the consolation round of the 10-meter platform, finishing 12th overall with a score of 367.40.
Purdue sophomore David Boudia proved to be the toughest diving competition at this year’s NCAA meet, as he won both the 1-meter and the 3-meter springboard events. He also placed sixth on the 10-meter platform.
Reach the reporter at nicole.klauss@asu.edu
