Feb. 13, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s and women’s diving units concluded the Southeastern Conference Diving Championships with two more strong performances from freshman diver Greg Ferrucci and senior diver Lisa Faulkner.
Following the championships, Ferrucci was named the SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year. Ferrucci is the first SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year in program history.
“Winning SEC Male Freshman Diver of the Year was a real achievement for Greg,” UK diving coach Ted Hautau said. “He has been out of the sport for three years and worked very hard to get back. He has competed well all season and showed some real mental toughness.”
Ferrucci entered the platform finals in fourth place with a score of 328.40. In the finals, Ferrucci bettered his performance with a third-place score of 336.00. Ferrucci’s platform finals score is the second best in UK history.
“Greg had another good day,” Hautau said. “He finished third today on platform. That was a very good finish for him. He is still learning up there and I think he’ll go even higher at the zone meet.”
Faulkner qualified for the women’s platform finals in fourth place by shattering her previous career best score of 240.00 with a score of 287.90 in the prelims. In the finals, Faulkner earned a score of 210.95 to finish in eighth place.
“Lisa was very solid throughout the championship,” Hautau said. “She performed her career best score in the three-meter final and her career best score in the platform preliminaries. She’s settling down and figuring out how to compete.”
Freshman Zack Peterson scored a 229.95 on the platform prelims to finish in 21st place and freshman Corey Cowger scored a 217.05 to finish in 22nd place.
Together, Ferrucci earned three top-seven finishes throughout the championships and Faulkner earned three top-nine finishes.
Thanks to his performances in the championships Ferrucci now holds the second best score on the three-meter board in UK history (400.55), the second best score on the platform in UK history (336.00) and the third best score on the one-meter board in UK history (378.50).
Faulkner’s score of 347.60 on the three-meter board is the second best in UK history.
“I was pleased with how the divers performed today and overall through the entire championship,” Hautau said. “We had a lot of personal bests during our toughest competition of the year. That was impressive given the fact that we are a young team.”
The SEC Swimming and Diving Championships will continue Wednesday with the beginning of the swimming portion of the championships. Day one will feature the 200-medley relay and the 800-free relay.
For results and coverage of the SEC Swimming Championships and all Kentucky swimming and diving news go to UKathletics.com.
