GREENSBORO, NC - Junior Matt Rohrer of the Tufts men's swimming & diving team placed seventh in three-meter diving at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championships today to earn All-American honors.
Rohrer compiled a 479.85 score in Wednesday night's finals and was the top New England finisher in the event. The performance is the second-best for him at the NCAA meet, behind only a sixth-place showing in three-meter at the 2015 national championship.
In Wednesday's NCAA three-meter preliminaries, Rohrer was eighth (460.45) to snag the last berth into the championship final. He improved his finish by one place and his score by nearly 20 points in the final.
The All-American finish is even more impressive considering Rohrer did not dive during the first semester while he was studying abroad in Italy. He learned new dives to make himself competitive with the top divers at the meet. After an inconsistent prelims out of which he was fortunate to make the finals, he put together a much more solid list to take seventh.
Rohrer is now a three-time All-American (top eight) and two-time honorable mention All-American (ninth through 16th). In addition to the sixth in three-meter last year, he was also eighth in one-meter at the 2015 NCAA meet. In 2014, he placed 10th in both events.
Rohrer was the lone Jumbo men's team member in action today on the first day of the NCAA meet. His seventh-place finish scored 12 team points which puts Tufts in a tie for 21st place. He will dive in the one-meter event on Friday.
Action at the NCAA's continues through Saturday. The Jumbos have swimmers Anthony DeBenedetto, Kingsley Bowen, and Michael Winget competing in the 100 butterfly on Thursday. The preliminaries start at 10 am and the finals are at 6 pm.
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