A&M’s Sehn Places Third on Platform; Aggies Finish No. 19 at NCAA Meet
Mar 17, 2007 | Men's Swimming and Diving
March 17, 2007
Texas A&M junior diver Eric Sehn led the Aggies to their 12th straight top 25 national finish by closing out the meet with a third-place finish on the platform on Saturday at the 2007 NCAA Men?™s Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota?™s University Aquatic Center.
Sehn scored 387.25 points on the platform to finish behind two-time NCAA platform champion Steven Segerlin of Auburn (414.90) and Michele Benedetti of Arizona State (412.10). Sehn and Segerlin were the only two divers to reach the Championship final in all three dives.
Sehn opened the platform with a strong 86.4 to take the initial lead, but a second-round 33.6 dragged him down to fourth place and forced him to play catch-up with last four dives. Entering the final round, Sehn had rallied back to second place and was 20 points behind Segerlin. Sehn posted a 61.2 with his sixth dive, but Segerlin hit a 68.4 and Benedetti had an impressive 90.1 to jump into second place.
?You can?™t do a dive like that and hope to win at the NCAA Championships,? Sehn said. ?I did come back strong to get to third and I?™m proud of that. I thought with a good back twist on my last dive that I could move up even more.?
Aggie head diving coach Kevin Wright was proud of Sehn?™s comeback.
?Whenever you are in major competition, a dive like that can affect detrimentally,? Wright said. ?His ability to put that dive behind him and get refocused shows his maturity. That?™s a tough thing to do and he did it. He came back and finished strong.?
With his third straight top five finish at the meet, Sehn scored 45 points which placed the Aggies 19th in the overall team standings. A&M has now placed in the top 25 in every NCAA meet dating back to 1996, which is the second-longest string of top 25 finishes by any sport in school history.
Sehn?™s 45 points were the most-ever by an A&M male or female swimmer or diver at an NCAA meet. The previous best was 40.5 points by female diver Alida DiPlacido at the 2004 NCAA Championships.
