H2Okies earn record-high four diving spots for NCAAs

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Virginia Tech divers finished out the NCAA Zone A Championship meet with both the men and women competing in the platform event. Logan Shinholser captured yet another gold medal, followed by Ryan Hawkins in second, which allowed Daniel Martin’s third-place finish on the first day of competition clinch him a spot in the NCAA Championships. Cara Murnan, Carissa Santora and Sarah Milton went 3-4-5 in the women’s platform.

“I am very proud of the success that our divers had at this meet and how they have finished this season,” said Virginia Tech diving coach Ron Piemonte. “We had three men and one woman qualify for NCAAs which is outstanding for Virginia Tech. I am just so proud of this squad.”

After becoming Tech’s first ever ACC diving champion with a gold medal on the platform on Feb. 19, Logan Shinholser once again captured the platform gold, winning the event with a score of 792.50. Ryan Hawkins finished in a close second with 777.35 well ahead of Virginia’s Briggy Imbriglia in third (694.40). Since Shinholser and Hawkins finished first and second in all three events on the weekend, the third-place finishers on both springboard events also earned bids to the NCAA Championships. Thus Daniel Martin’s bronze in the 1-meter sends him to Minneapolis along with Navy’s Olaf Olson.

For the women, Boston University’s Melinda Matyas finished first on the platform with a score of 528.35, followed by Ann-Bryna Tsai of Princeton (483.30). The H2Okies put up a strong performance, with Cara Murnan, Carissa Santora and Sarah Milton earning the next three spots with scores of 470.70, 465.45 and 464.40, respectively. Sara Mokhtari also finished in the top 10, placing ninth with a score of 400.85.

The 2010-2011 swimming and diving season will conclude over the next two weekends with the NCAA Championships. Sarah Milton and Erika Hajnal will represent the H2Okies in Austin, Texas, at the women’s meet on March 17-19, and Shinholser, Hawkins and Martin will dive for Tech in Minneapolis, Minn., on March 24-26.