AUSTIN, Texas — Penn State senior Hector Garcia Boissier won silver in the 1-meter dive at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, placing second with a score of 399.30 Thursday evening at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Garcia Boissier became the first Penn State diver since Steve Bohner in 2002 to advance to the championship final at NCAA's, posting a preliminary score of 331.20 to rank seventh. He then became Penn State's highest-finishing men's diver, besting Chris Devine's third-place finish in the 1-meter in 1994.
"Hector was relaxed in the finals and he was on fire," Penn State head coach Tim Murphy exclaimed. "We're very excited for him and all the divers. This is a meet you have to perform and we had a lot of fun tonight."
Fellow senior Jack Crow, finished the day with a score of 203.05 in the 1-meter.
The Nittany Lions nearly had a consolation finalist in the pool. Sophomore Gabe Castano completed the 50 free in 19.21 to place 17th, one place shy of advancing to the evening. His time was a hundredth of a second short of his career best time.
"Gabe had an excellent swim this morning for his first time at NCAAs," said Coach Murphy. "He came out really determined and we're all looking forward to his next swim."
"Hector did fantastic today. That was the best 6 dives back to back he has done," said Diving Coach Jeff DiNicola. "Hector is honored to know he is the highest place finisher for a diver at Penn State and also for him to be all American on the 1-meter was almost a bonus for him."
Tomorrow, freshman Michael Daly will make his NCAA Championship debut when he takes the pool at 11 a.m. for the 400 IM preliminaries. He will be joined by seniors Hector Garcia Boissier and Jack Crow who will be competing in the 3-meter. All preliminary races are available for streaming at TexasSports.com. The finals will begin at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.