March 24, 2018
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MINNEAPOLIS -- Penn State junior Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) completed competition at the 2018 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships Saturday, placing 28th in the platform dive at the University of Minnesota's Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
Garcia posted a score of 303.20 points, which was a career best for him in the platform at the NCAA Championships. He last competed in NCAAs in the event in 2016, placing 42nd.
The effort completed the most successful of Garcia's three NCAA Championship appearances, as he was an honorable mention All-America in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.
"Hector had a great event, slightly missing only his newest dive, which actually starts from a handstand going backwards," said Penn State diving coach Dennis Ceppa. "I couldn't be more proud of this young man. We don't even have a platform to train on like most other Big Ten schools. Hector's desire to represent our school and program at the highest levels is truly admirable. I'm excited as we move forward towards what will be his final year competing as a Nittany Lion. This young mans future is a bright one."
Garcia won the consolation final of the 3-meter with a score of 406.85 to place ninth overall Friday. It marked his second honorable mention All-America finish in the event and his best performance in the event at NCAAs.
"Coming into the 3-meter event, we knew a pivotal dive was going to be his 4th round reverse 3.5 somersault," said Ceppa."It is the most difficult dive being done in the contest and is still somewhat new to Hector. Unfortunately a great takeoff led to a missed exit from the dive and left hector battling his way back to a scoring position once again. His skill and the composure under pressure he illustrated gave him another chance to come back for a consolation final.
"In the consolation final Hector truly shined. From start to finish he was in complete control of his diving and the competition. I could not be more proud of Hector's performance and how he's represented himself and Penn State here at the national championship so far."
Thursday, Garcia earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 1-meter for a third consecutive year with his highest career finish in the event, placing 12th. He advanced to the consolation finals with a preliminary score of 357.60, which was good enough for 11th overall. He then totaled 343.55 points in the consolation finals to place 12th.
"Hector had a great showing in the 1-meter prelim," said Ceppa."A slight miss on his last dive cost him a spot in the A final. Diving is a sport of details and at this level those details can make or break a performance. I'm very thankful that Hector is at a level where a slight miss calculation won't take him out of a scoring position completely. All in all he finished in a better position than last year so we have to be thankful for a solid event."
"These performances are a real credit to the work Hector and [diving] Coach [Dennis] Ceppa have done," said Penn State swimming & diving head coach Tim Murphy.