March 29, 2013
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Greg Ferrucci secured a fourth-place finish Thursday evening on the 1-meter springboard to reach his first NCAA final and notch his highest-career finish at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. With a final score of 403.05, the junior finished just 4.4 points shy of medaling in the event.
Ferrucci and fellow junior teammate John Fox began the day competing in the preliminaries of the 1-meter springboard. As he’s done all season long when healthy, Ferrucci put up a solid prelim score of 367.15 to put him in third place and earned himself the opportunity to compete in the top eight in the evening’s finals.
In his NCAA Championships debut, Fox gave a strong effort on the 1-meter, falling just six places shy of advancing to the evening’s finals. Fox posted a six-dive score of 314.85 to finish the day in 22nd place overall.
“I was very pleased with John Fox’s performance,” said head coach Ted Hautau. “He was steady and consistent and handled himself well in his first NCAA event.”
In his first finals appearance, Ferrucci gave a strong effort in his second-best event, but he had to overcome a bit of adversity to claw all the way back into contention.
“Greg had a lot of juice in his first NCAA final,” said Hautau. “He was really moving on his first two dives and overotated both a bit. He made a great run back from last to fourth and showed great competitive and mental toughness.”
His finals score of 403.05 was narrowly edged by Southeastern Conference 1-Meter Champion Missouri’s David Bonuchi who took home the bronze with a 407.45.
Ferrucci’s fourth-place finish on the 1-meter springboard was a marked improvement over his 11th place finish in the event a year ago in the 2012 NCAA Championships. On Friday Ferrucci will look to improve on last season’s 10th place finish as he and Fox will hit the 3-meter springboards for the second of their three events they will compete in at the championships.
At the Zone C Diving Championships, Ferrucci earned his NCAA berth with his victory on the 1-meter on the first day of competition, but it was his dominance on the 3-meter springboard that made waves as he broke the program record, his personal best, with an eye-popping six-dive score of 453.2. Fox also qualified for the NCAA Championships on the 3-meter springboard placing fourth and scoring a 12-dive total of 761.95.
An All-SEC Second Team honoree, Ferrucci will look to carry over that performance at the highest collegiate level when action gets back underway at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships Friday at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind., with events beginning at 11 a.m.
