Big East Championships Preview: Men's Diving

2/20/2003

This is the final preview article for the Big East Swimming and Diving Championships, which begin today.

PITTSBURGH — The Panthers' quest for a seventh consecutive men's Big East Swimming and Diving title begins today at the Long Island Aquatic Center in Long Island, N.Y.

Today's final preview article takes a look at the diving events.

Men's Diving

As dominant as the Panthers have been winning titles, the Miami Hurricanes have done so in the diving competition. A Hurricane diver has won the one-meter competition for the past 11 years, since joining the Big East in 1992.

It is the same way on the three-meter board, where six Miami divers have won the past 11 titles.

This year, Miami has only one diver, Miguel Velazquez, but he is ranked fourth on the one-meter board and 15th on the 3-meter board heading into today's meet.

Instead, Georgetown has the top two divers on the one-meter board so far this season in Michael Kizer and Alan Fong. The Panthers' Dennis Nemtsanov (Calhoun, Ga./LSU) and Matthew Schwartz (Huntington, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) repeat that feat in the three-meter competition and are ranked third and fifth, respectively on the one-meter board. The Panthers have won seven one-meter titles at the conference meet and eight three-meter competitions but all were prior to 1992.

Some of the other top divers to look for in the meet are Syracuse's Dewey Schultz, and Virginia Tech's Matt Bolen and Doug Roper.

Other Panthers competing in the Big East Championships include Troy Kaczorowski (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park), Richard Grinstead (Wellsville, N.Y./Hornell), Adam Natishyn (Easton, Pa./Easton Area) and Kevin Bast (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin).