KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Texas A&M junior Tyler Henschel won the three-meter dive in school and meet record fashion to highlight the Aggie men's third day at the 2017 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday at Jones Aquatic Center on the University of Tennessee campus.
After three days of action, the Aggies were in fifth place with 414 points and were chasing Florida (759.5), Georgia (537), Auburn (495.5) and Alabama (415.5) in the team standings. Rounding out the field were Tennessee (409.5), South Carolina (380), LSU (340), Missouri (326.5) and Kentucky (248.5).
Henschel, from Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, was consistent and sharp through his entire list and built a solid lead entering the final round, but had to produce an 80-point plus score on his final dive after LSU freshman Juan Celaya Hernandez scored an incredible 99.45 on his final effort. Henschel calmly produced an 88.35 score on a forward 3 ½ somersault pike for the victory.
"I knew going into it that I was capable of winning but that I was going to have to some serious damage. I knew that every single dive had to be my very best," Henschel said. "As the event kept progressing, I tried to stay cool and collected. I'm sort of blind so I can't actually see the scores on the scoreboard, but I knew that Juan had done one of the hardest dives in the world – the triple out – and he scored 99 points on that. So I just stayed calm and do my final dive like normal and try to come out on top. And that exactly what happened and I couldn't be more proud of myself."
Henschel's scoring outburst took down the Aggies' old school standard of 476.48 set by Grant Nel in 2012, as well as the SEC meet record of 463.50 by Tennessee's Liam Stone for the 2015 Championships. Henschel's list produced scores of 93.50, 76.50, 79.80, 51.00, 89.25 and 88.35 and he produced the top score among all eight finalists in three of the six rounds.
With Henschel leading the way, it was another huge day for the Aggies' diver with all five entries contributing points and the group adding 80 points to the team score. Defending SEC 3m champ Sam Thornton placed sixth while bettering his winning score from a year ago with a collegiate-best 416.90 point total. Senior Zachary Stockton also hit his lifetime best with a score of 364.65 while placing 11th. Sophomore Skylar Lake finished 19th with 329.80 points and senior Colton Haffey was 23rd with 295.50.
In other action, junior Jonathan Tybur placed 22nd in the 400-yard IM with a lifetime best time of 3:50.97, which moved him to No. 6 on the Aggies' all-time top 10 list in the race. Senior Turker Ayar become the fourth Aggie to post a sub-47 second time in the 100-yard butterfly with a lifetime best time of 46.79 while placing second in the C final (18th overall). Ayar now ranks No. 3 in school history behind Boris Loncaric (45.53) and Henrik Lindau (46.50).
After three days of action, the Aggies were in fifth place with 414 points and were chasing Florida (759.5), Georgia (537), Auburn (495.5) and Alabama (415.5) in the team standings. Rounding out the field were Tennessee (409.5), South Carolina (380), LSU (340), Missouri (326.5) and Kentucky (248.5).
Henschel, from Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, was consistent and sharp through his entire list and built a solid lead entering the final round, but had to produce an 80-point plus score on his final dive after LSU freshman Juan Celaya Hernandez scored an incredible 99.45 on his final effort. Henschel calmly produced an 88.35 score on a forward 3 ½ somersault pike for the victory.
"I knew going into it that I was capable of winning but that I was going to have to some serious damage. I knew that every single dive had to be my very best," Henschel said. "As the event kept progressing, I tried to stay cool and collected. I'm sort of blind so I can't actually see the scores on the scoreboard, but I knew that Juan had done one of the hardest dives in the world – the triple out – and he scored 99 points on that. So I just stayed calm and do my final dive like normal and try to come out on top. And that exactly what happened and I couldn't be more proud of myself."
Henschel's scoring outburst took down the Aggies' old school standard of 476.48 set by Grant Nel in 2012, as well as the SEC meet record of 463.50 by Tennessee's Liam Stone for the 2015 Championships. Henschel's list produced scores of 93.50, 76.50, 79.80, 51.00, 89.25 and 88.35 and he produced the top score among all eight finalists in three of the six rounds.
With Henschel leading the way, it was another huge day for the Aggies' diver with all five entries contributing points and the group adding 80 points to the team score. Defending SEC 3m champ Sam Thornton placed sixth while bettering his winning score from a year ago with a collegiate-best 416.90 point total. Senior Zachary Stockton also hit his lifetime best with a score of 364.65 while placing 11th. Sophomore Skylar Lake finished 19th with 329.80 points and senior Colton Haffey was 23rd with 295.50.
In other action, junior Jonathan Tybur placed 22nd in the 400-yard IM with a lifetime best time of 3:50.97, which moved him to No. 6 on the Aggies' all-time top 10 list in the race. Senior Turker Ayar become the fourth Aggie to post a sub-47 second time in the 100-yard butterfly with a lifetime best time of 46.79 while placing second in the C final (18th overall). Ayar now ranks No. 3 in school history behind Boris Loncaric (45.53) and Henrik Lindau (46.50).