Notre Dame claimed seventh place in its inaugural ACC Diving Championships, earning 78 points over the three-day event held in Greensboro, N.C. The Irish swimmers will seek to advance that total in the second component of the championships next weekend.
Of the five divers representing the Irish, freshman Joe Cuomos set the high mark of the group, earning 345.50 in the three-meter event. Cuomos scored 321.90 and 255.85 points in his one-meter and platform events, respectively.
Coumos’debut season for the Irish featured 12 first-place finishes in the one-meter and three-meter events. In four meets, he swept both competitions. The freshman had no such luck at the ACC Championships as his 11th-place finish in the three-meter prelims would be his personal and the team’s high water mark on the weekend.
Finishing one slot above Coumos on Saturday was Irish junior Ted Wagner, who claimed 20th place in the platform event with 263.90 points. Wagner’s ACC Championships also featured a 24th-place finish in the three-meter dive and 22nd place in the one-meter board competition.
Juniors Michael Kreft and Nick Nemetz also represented the Irish in the conference event. Kreft, who was last year’s Most Valuable Diver in the 2013 Big East Championships, was the top Irish finisher in Friday’s one-meter event with 334.55 points in the 13th position. He also earned 22nd place in the platform on Saturday with 252.60 points and 15th with 331.10. Nemetz’s top finish came in the one-meter dive, where he claimed 17th place with a score of 325.20.
Notre Dame’s conference standing remained relatively stable throughout the weekend. After starting in seventh place on Thursday, the Irish advanced to the sixth-place slot Friday before returning to seventh place after Saturday’s platform events. With 205 points, Virginia Tech heads into next weekend’s swimming competition firmly in first place. Florida State is currently in second place with 169 points and Miami sits in third with 156 points.
Next weekend the swim team will travel to Greensboro, N.C., for the swimming championships. The points earned over the weekend at the diving championships will remain in place as each school’s swim team will effectively continue the meet next weekend. On March 1, after the conclusion of the swim section, the ACC will crown its 2013-2014 swim and dive champion.
