Ficarro finished second in NCAA D-III 3-meter final; Miller competed for the men
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Fredonia State junior diver Sarah Ficarro finished second in the nation in women's 3-meter springboard diving at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving championships.
Ficarro earned 467.65 points to defeat six other finalists Saturday March 24. Ruth Hahn of Trinity won the competition with 481.00 points.
Diving next-to-last in the eight-women rotation, Ficarro saved her best dive for last. Her inward 2.5 somersault from the tuck position earned 62.10 points and moved her up two spots in the final standings.
The second-place finish matched her second-place finish in the 1-meter competition as a freshman at the 2010 NCAA championships. She has competed at nationals three straight years and has earned three All-American certificates and three honorable mention All-American certificates.
Ficarro also posted the second-best total score, also behind Hahn, following preliminaries Saturday afternoon the Indiana University Natatorium. Included in her scores was an inward 2.5 somersault which earned 58 points, the highest-scored dive among all 22 competitors during the afternoon.
Ficarro also earned honorable mention All-American status on Thursday March 22 when she finished 11th on the one-meter board. The 11-dive program was broken into two sections – six dives, followed by a five-minute break, then the last five dives. Ficarro headed into the break on a high note when she performed an inward 1.5 somersault from the pike position and earned 49.2 points, her best dive of the first half dozen, to raise her total to 233.30 points. Her best dive of the second portion of preliminaries, a reverse dive from the pike position, earned her 35.7 points. She finished with 406.70 points.
Sophomore Jermaine Miller was the first Oneonta swimming & diving athlete to compete at the national meet in nearly 35 years while being one of 22 divers to qualify. He was the only male swimmer or diver from the SUNYAC to be at the meet.
“My first NCAA Championship was quiet an experience,” said Miller. “I was without a doubt overwhelmed with the entire experience. I greatly appreciate the time and effort my coach Mike Martinez has put into my training. Competing at the NCAA championships was a dream of mine since high school. Overall I would say, participating at the national level has opened my eyes to what goals I want to accomplish and what I have to do to reach them.
Miller's final placement for the championship was 22nd in the 3-meter event with a score of 372.25 and 20th in the 1-meter event with a score of 382.25.
Miller currently holds school records in three of the four diving events. He also competes on the track & field team and actually scored points for the men during the indoor season at the conference championship meet.
