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Imbriglia Wins Platform at Zones; Punches Ticket to NCAA Championships
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BUFFALO, N.Y. – Senior diver Briggy Imbriglia won the platform event Sunday at the NCAA Zone A Championships to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, slated for March 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash. He is the first Virginia diver to win an event championship at a zone meet.
Imbriglia will compete in all three events at the NCAA Championships, becoming the first diver in school history to do so. He is only the second diver in the history of the men’s program to earn a berth at the national meet, joining Jim-Tom Moore, who qualified in the early 1980s.
Imbriglia recorded a finals score of 366.15 on the tower to top Logan Shinholster of Virginia Tech with a total mark of 708.10. Imbriglia was also first out of the preliminaries with a score of 341.95. Virginia Tech’s Ryan Hawkins, the ACC champion on platform, placed fifth (623.20).
“I am so proud of how Briggy dove this weekend,” Virginia diving coach Rich MacDonald said. “He has worked really hard over the past three years, getting through some major injuries. For him to put it all together this weekend and make it happen was awesome. We are looking forward to going to the NCAA meet with the swimmers and hopefully we can score some points for them.”
Earlier in the weekend, Imbriglia placed sixth on the 1-meter (639.65) and was eighth on the 3-meter (658.76), finaling in both springboard events.
Freshman J.B. Kolod finished sixth on the platform Sunday, tallying 292.45 points in the prelims and 306.10 in the finals for a total of 598.55. He also placed fifth on the 1-meter (656.20) and seventh on the 3-meter (669.80).
Freshman Laura Gartrell was eighth in the platform with 387.55 points. She recorded marks of 190.40 and 197.15 in the preliminaries and finals, respectively. She also took 16th on the 1-meter board (462.50) and 33rd on the 3-meter board with a score of 216.20 in the prelims.
“JB and Laura both had a great meet,” MacDonald said. “Their performances as freshmen were huge. For them to get that experience and to dive so well at a very competitive, individual-style meet is something great to build on for the future.”
Imbriglia becomes the sixth member of the Virginia men’s team to qualify for the NCAA Championships, joining swimmers Tom Barrett, Parker Camp, Brady Fox, Peter Geissinger and David Karasek.