March 3, 2007 - at NCAA Zone Diving Championships
March 3, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Diving
Rider at NCAA Zone Championships
PISCATAWAY—Three members of the Rider University diving teams competed this weekend at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, hosted by Rutgers University. “Right now I couldn’t be happier,” said diving coach Dennis Ceppa. “The divers are a tight knit group, they all get along and they all want to be the best divers they can be. The team dynamic is great and they all want to better themselves.”
For the Broncs, sophomore Amanda Burke (Churchville, Pa./William Tennett) finished eighth in the finals of the women’s one-meter (487.25) with junior Dylan Korn (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) placing 15th in the men’s three-meter (511.20) and senior Shannen Kahler (Ojai, Calif./Chaparral/Grossmont CC) placing 29th in the women’s one-meter preliminaries (183.75).
“Dylan had a great event on Friday, and he was very consistent,” said Ceppa. “He finished the one-meter in 18th, three spots higher than last season and that’s just a matter of him practicing more. Today he had a rough event and didn’t make finals. He did the best he could but missed a couple of dives and being one step away from nationals, you can’t afford to miss on any of your dives. The first six dives determine who makes finals and you can’t miss any of them. Dylan was only a few points out of 10th and at this level, diving against the very best, one slight miss cost Dylan a top 10 finish.”
“I was disappointed in where Amanda [Burke] placed yesterday in the three-meter but she made the finals of the one-meter today so she rebounded well,” said Ceppa. “Again it was one dive on Friday that cost her. Today, she was eighth and after preliminaries she was 10 points out of first and you have to remember she is only a sophomore so she will be prepared next year. The coaches will know who she is and she made a big impact on the meet and was points out of the top three so everyone now knows what she is capable of. With that comes higher expectations but she also gained a solid comfort level going through the pressures of this meet.”
“In Shannen’s situation, her injury two weeks ago when she hit the board at ECAC’s really didn’t impact her diving,” Ceppa said. “The time off that she was hurt was more of the determining factor. She came in the meet with an amazing toughness and a great attitude and her placing in the meet was more due to a lack of diving for two weeks. She was only on the board for one day before the event and I think that affected her not being as sharp as she usually is. I think the lack of practice caused her not to dive her best.”
“As a coach, all you can hope for is a group that wants to be there and who want to work hard and we have that,” Ceppa added. “I’m very fortunate to be able to work with these student-athletes. They know what they need to work on and if they want to grow, all we have to do is water them so to speak.”
Rider diving, just add water.
-RU-
