Denison occupied the medal stand on the first night of the 2014 NCAA Division III Diving Regional. First-year Max Levy was the champion in the 1-meter board with a score of 535.85. North Coast Athletic Conference champion and national record-holder, Connor Dignan, placed second with a score of 531.65, and last year's NCAA 1-meter champion, Ben Lewis, placed third with a total of 489.00.
Out of 25 total qualifying participants in the men's 1-meter board, Denison landed five divers in the top-9. Levy's best score of the competition came on his fifth dive, a back 1 ½ somersault, 1 ½ twist free. With a 2.5 degree of difficulty he netted a score of 58.75 in the round. Overall, Levy would post six dives which earned 52 points or more.
Dignan had a chance to catch Levy on his final dive, a forward 1 ½ somersault 1 twist free, but the junior recorded a score of 48.40 on the 2.2 DD dive. Despite just missing out on the win, Dignan did record the highest individual round score of the competition, with a 65.00 on his fifth dive which was a forward 2 ½ somersault pike.
Third-place went to Lewis who started off with his best dive of the series, netting a score of 61.10 out of the gate. Lewis' total was just slightly shy of the 494.5 score he posted to win the 2013 NCAA Division III 1-meter national championship last March in Shenandoah, Texas.
Following in eighth and ninth place, respectively for DU was Brian Allen and Connor Dorff. Allen tallied a score of 434.30 with a top score of 54.00 on his fourth dive, an inward 1 ½ somersault pike. Dorff was 3.3 points behind with a total of 431.60. The junior popped off a score of 62.00 after completing an inward 2 ½ somersault tuck with a 3.1 degree of difficulty.
Denison's lineup was rounded out by sophomore Nathan Lightman and senior Matt Poulos who placed 23rd and 24th respectively. Lightman finished with a score of 380.10 while Poulos totaled 379.90.
Six of Denison's seven divers will compete in tomorrow's 3-meter board which is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. Live video of the NCAA Division III Diving Regional will be provided on Saturday for both the men's 3-meter final and the women's 1-meter final.
