March 24, 2017
| NCAA MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
| | |
| Thursday, Mar. 23-Saturdaay, Mar. 25 Prelims: 10 a.m. - Finals 6 p.m. | |
| IU Natatorium | Indianapolis, Ind. | |
Day 1 Results (PDF) | Day 2 Results (PDF) | |
| Photo Gallery (Day 1) | Photo Gallery (Day 2) | |
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INDIANAPOLIS ââ'¬" Penn State senior Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) became a three-time All-American in the 100 backstroke Friday, as he placed sixth in the event in 45.17 seconds at the 2017 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in the IU Natatorium.
Penn State sophomore diver Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) also scored with a 16th place finish in the 3-meter springboard. As team, the duo has the Nittany Lions ranking 27th with 16 points.
It took Ryan an extra swim to reach the championship final. His preliminary time of 45.27 tied him for eighth place with Georgia's Taylor Dale, forcing a swim-off. The two raced one-on-one following the first round of diving trials and Ryan lowered his time to 45.21, while Dale touched in 45.42.
"It was probably one of the toughest races Shane has had to swim since he's been here," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "It was not going to be about time, it was going to be about fighting for and earning a spot in the final heat."
Ryan improved in the final with his best swim of the day to improve two places over his preliminary placing.
Ryan will compete in his final Penn State race Saturday, swimming in the 100 freestyle.
"He feels good about the 100 free tomorrow," said Murphy. "He'll need a big swim in the morning to reach consols and take a shot at the finals, so that's where his focus is right now. He's got one swim tomorrow morning and he'll try to make another one in the evening."
The 100 back was Ryan's second event of the Championships. On Thursday he competed in the 50 freestyle, and three-hundredths of a second were all that kept Ryan from earning an evening swim. His time of 19.31 was the second fastest of his career, but it placed him 17th overall in the preliminaries.
Garcia placed 16th for his best finish at the NCAA Championships in the 3-meter. Garcia slipped into the consolation finals by 0.35 points with a score of 349.00, and then improved in the finals to 350.60, but remained 16th.
"I think Hector did a great job this week," said diving coach Dennis Ceppa. "We came into this competition knowing that there were quite a few returning Olympians to the mix that took last year off to prepare for the games. This meant that Hector needed to outperform last year just to finish in a similar standing as a year ago. In the end, Hector finished as a two-time honorable mention All-American for the year. Last season he was only able to earn this honor in one event. It shows his growth as an athlete and competitor. The level of diving at the meet continues to improve by leaps and bounds each year."
Garcia also scored in the 1-meter Thursday. He is now 2-for-2 in getting six extra dives in the 1-meter at NCAAs after also placing 15th in the event as a freshman. This year he posted a score of 326.65 in the preliminaries and 313.95 in the finals.
"As coaches we often wonder how much better these athletes can get," said Ceppa. "How much further can they push the envelope? Well Hector finds himself in that mix and continues to step up, not letting the others to get too far ahead of him. I couldn't be more proud of him."
The morning preliminaries will be streamed live on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd, while ESPN3 will stream the championship finals sessions Saturday. ESPNU will air a two-hour, tape-delayed broadcast Wednesday, Apr. 5 at 5 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 25
100 Freestyle - Ryan