University of Tennessee Athletics
Stone Finishes Fourth on 1-Meter at NCAAs
March 23, 2017 | Swimming & Diving
SCHEDULE (Eastern Time)
WEDNESDAY
- Swimming Finals (6 pm):
800 Freestyle Relay
THURSDAY
- Swimming Prelims (10 am):
200 Freestyle Relay
500 Freestyle
200 IM
50 Freestyle
400 Medley Relay - Diving Prelims (12:30 pm):
1-Meter Springboard - Swimming Finals (6 pm):
200 Freestyle Relay
500 Freestyle
200 IM
50 Freestyle
1-Meter Springboard
400 Medley Relay
FRIDAY
- Swimming Prelims (10 am):
400 IM
100 Butterfly
200 freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
200 Medley Relay - Diving Prelims (12:15 pm):
3-Meter Springboard - Swimming Finals (6 pm):
400 IM
100 Butterfly
200 freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Springboard
200 Medley Relay
SATURDAY
- Swimming Prelims (10 am):
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
400 Freestyle Relay - Diving Prelims (12:15 pm):
3-Meter Springboard - Early Heats of 1650 Freestyle (3:45 pm):
Final heat of timed finals set for 4:50 p.m. - Swimming Finals (6 pm):
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Platform Diving
400 Freestyle Relay
INDIANAPOLIS -- Competing in a world championship-caliber final, Tennessee junior Liam Stone took fourth on the 1-meter springboard Thursday at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Entering the event as the defending champion, Liam qualified for the final but finished behind a trio of Olympians on Thursday night. The Vol junior moved up two spots from his preliminary result, finishing with a six-dive score of 427.35.
Steele Johnson of Purdue, who won the 1-meter championship in 2015, reclaimed his title with a score of 446.90. Last summer, he was a silver medalist at Rio in 10-meter synchronized diving. He was followed by Olympians Michael Hixon and James Connor of Indiana.
Stone made his run midway through the competition, surging from back in the pack to third with a 76.50 score on his third dive.
The talent level of the competition helped Stone elevate his game.
"It was a very strong field, and some very good divers weren't even in the final," Stone said. "The prelim was very high stakes, which everyone knew going in. I just trusted my training and trusted the process we'd been working on all year.
"I love diving finals, especially at NCAAs and to be in a field with multiple Olympians. ... Seeing them dive really motivates and inspires me to dive to the best of my ability. They were all on fire tonight, and I just wanted to be a part of that."
Though Stone came away with the fourth-place trophy instead of gold, Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said his diving was even better than a year ago.
"That event final was probably one of the finest finals I've seen on 1-meter, and that includes watching numerous world championships," Stone said. "The quality of diving, particularly from the top four or five guys was phenomenal, and Liam was in the thick of it.
"Liam competed well against extremely experienced international divers and went toe-to-toe with them. I'm very proud of him. I like the way it sets us up for tomorrow."
He now turns his attention to 3-meter springboard on Friday. He took ninth in the event last year.
Tennessee scored its first points of the meet in the pool Thursday as Ryan Coetzee, Braga Verhage, Alec Connolly and Kyle DeCoursey was 15th overall in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:17.44.
The Vols disqualified from the 400 medley relay consolation final because of a stroke violation.
