Senior Aaron Fleshner Wins SEC Diving Title
2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 17, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. - Alabama senior Aaron Fleshner shattered his own school record on the way to winning the Southeastern Conference three-meter diving title on day one of the SEC Swimming and Diving Championships being held in Athens, Ga., this week.
"That was a great win for Aaron and a great start for us," Alabama head coach Eric McIlquham said. "He really ripped that last dive to seal the win. It was a great effort. "
It is Fleshner's third SEC title in as many years. He won the three-meter as a sophomore in 2008 and the one-meter last year. The Spring, Texas, native scored 449.15 points to beat second-place finisher Kelly Marx of Auburn by five points and to break the Crimson Tide record by nearly 20 points. Junior Adam Booher also competed in the championship finals of the three-meter, taking fourth place with 380.80 points.
Sophomore Carrie Dragland finished fourth off the one-meter board, the first event on the women's side of the meet, scoring 311.60 points. The Woodinville, Wash., native finished seventh on this event as a freshman on her way to being named SEC Diver and Freshman Diver of the Year. Junior Lauren Dunn, senior Elizabeth Hughes and junior Olivia Covey also scored off the one-meter board. Dunn earned 285.50 points to take 10th place, Hughes totaled 258.30 to take 13th and Covey tallied 248.30 to take 13th place.
"Carrie and Adam did a nice job as well, both scoring in the championship finals," McIlquham said. "Now we need to come back tomorrow, get everyone involved and go from there."
In the relays, the Alabama men finished seventh in the 200 medley relay and sixth in the 800 freestyle relay while the women took seventh in the 200 medley relay and eighth in the 800 freestyle relay.
The Alabama men finished day one of the championships in third place with 85 points while Auburn and Florida are tied for first with 100 points each. The Tide women are currently in fifth place, with Florida and Georgia tied for first with 95 points each.
The championship continues on Thursday with prelims of the 500 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, men's one-meter and women's three-meter diving as well as the 200 freestyle relay all getting underway at 9 a.m. CT while the finals are slated for a 4:30 p.m. CT start.
Players Mentioned
