Wildcats Sweep SEC Diver of the Week Honors
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Freshman Seb Masterton and
redshirt-junior Rebecca Hamperian brought in both the Southeastern Conference Male
and Female Diver of the Week honors, the conference announced on Tuesday. The awards marked the first time that UK has
had a diver earn the distinction since Levi Lindsey was named the Diver of the
Week on Feb. 3, 2015.
The awards also mark the first time that
Kentucky has had a sweep of the Diver of the Week Awards. The distinction had been bestowed upon the
women’s program five times, while the men’s program had seen Greg Ferucci take
home the honor nine times in addition to Lindsey’s award last season.
“I’m pleased for these two to both get the
award,” noted diving coach Ted Hautau. “Each
has respectively been leading our team on each side.”
Masterton had a weekend for the record books
at the Miami Open, placing as the top collegiate finisher in the 1-meter,
3-meter and platform dives, while also recording scores that rank in the upper
half of UK’s top-10 performances in all three disciplines. The British product won the overall title on
the 1-meter springboard with 378.10 points, besting his previous personal
record by more than 50 points. He also
finished second overall in the 3-meter dive with 384.90 points, another
50-point improvement for the freshman.
Both his springboard scores are good for fifth on UK’s all-time
list. Masterton also notched the
fourth-highest score in program history on platform, with over 60 points of improvement
over his debut outing in the event a fortnight prior. He finished fifth overall with 335.80 points.
“Seb competed very well,” said Hautau. “He had personal bests against some good
Chinese divers. I was pretty impressed
especially given he’s a freshman. His
body is broken down after a long fall season and finals are looming.” Head coach Lars Jorgensen also commended
Masterton, saying, “Seb has really been working hard this year, so it’s great
to see a freshman get recognized this early.”
Hamperian, who has been battling with injury
throughout the season, saw a much improved weekend at the Miami Open. She was the top collegiate finisher in the
platform dive, and the second collegiate finisher in the 1-meter and 3-meter
dives. The reigning SEC Female Diver of
the Year started the meet with a fifth-place overall finish on the tower with a
season-best 200.85 points, less than 15 points off her career best. She then had another career-best performance
on the 3-meter springboard, taking sixth overall with 282.65 points. On the final day, Hamperian took fifth
overall on the 1-meter springboard with 283.35 points to wrap up a weekend of
consistent scoring.
“Becca did a nice job. Coming back from injuries, she is doing high
quality dives and showing a lot of mental toughness,” said Hautau. “It’s great to see Rebecca continue to lead
the team after her successful season last year, and this is a much deserved
award for her,” added Jorgensen.
Both divers will be back in action when
Kentucky opens up the New Year by hosting SEC foe LSU along with Atlantic Coast
Conference member Virginia Tech in a two-day tri meet on Jan. 8-9, 2016.
For the latest on the Kentucky
swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive
on Twitter, on Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive,
and on the web at ukathletics.com.
