TROY, NY - Nearly matching his record performance at the NESCAC Championships a week ago, Tufts University senior diver Johann Schmidt won the NCAA Regional one-meter competition at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Robison Pool today.
Competing among 20 divers who qualified for the Regional, Schmidt won with a 576.20 final score after his 11-dive program. The top three automatically move on to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championship Meet in Indianapolis March 19-22. Schmidt had nearly a 40-point margin of victory over Amherst's Mark Idleman (537.55), the runner-up. Oneonta's Jermaine Miller was third at a 529.45 score.
Jumbo freshman Matthrew Rohrer placed fifth with a 507.30 score. He has a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships tomorrow in the three-meter half of the NCAA Regional. Seven divers overall will move on to the national championships. Rohrer was the three-meter champion at his first conference meet last week by scoring 533.70.
At the NESCAC meet hosted by Bowdoin College a week ago today, Schmidt won the one-meter conference title with a 578.15 score that was a new pool, school, NESCAC and conference championship meet record. He was less than two points off that mark at the Regional today.
Schmidt won off both boards at the 2013 NCAA Diving Regional, the first time this procedure was used to determine the divers who qualify for Nationals. He scored 588.95 in three-meter and 543.20 in one-meter.
He was the 2012 NCAA one-meter champion in Indianapolis with a 527.35 score. A five-time All-American, Schmidt will be competing at the NCAA meet all four years of his Tufts diving career.
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