Tide’s Fleshner wins SEC 3-meter championship

TUSCALOOSA | If you glanced at the diving well just after Aaron Fleshner sliced in, you probably wouldn’t have known he was down there.

The Alabama diver left calm waters as he awed the judges to become a Southeastern Conference champion Wednesday night.

Fleshner placed first in the men’s 3-meter springboard event on Day 1 of the SEC Championships.

“I feel relieved, excited … a lot more calm now,” Fleshner said just after receiving his gold medal.

“I was nervous throughout the entire thing. Just keeping calm was half the meet.”

Fleshner, a sophomore, upgraded to gold from the bronze medal he won at last year’s SEC meet as a freshman.

“It’s a little shinier,” Fleshner said.

He posted a 429.4, outdistancing the second-place finisher, Marx Kelly of Auburn, by nearly 15 points.

Fleshner said it was six points higher than his career best at Alabama.

“That, last year, would have been top 3 in the NCAA,” Alabama coach Eric McIlquham said. “He was just off on one dive, just a little bit. He’s averaging 70-plus points per dive. If he duplicates that performance, he’ll be top 3.”

Each diver completes a six-dive rotation. Seven judges score each dive, and the six combined scores determine the final standings. If Fleshner dropped his worst dive, a 63.0, he would still have beaten two competitors in the eight-man finals field.

Fleshner opened with a 63. But he pulled in a 77.5 on his second dive, and received the first 9.0 from a judge by any diver. He then posted a blistering 81.0, receiving several nines from the judges.

After that third-round performance, he firmly pulled ahead of the field with a 15.1 point lead. He posted scores of 63, 73.5 and 71.4 to seal the win.

Fleshner said he didn’t spice up his routine with any unusual or complicated dives for the big event.

“I just kept it as a normal routine,” he said. “I kept the dives I knew I could hit.”

In fact, he tried to keep everything normal.

Which is why, prior to the meet, Fleshner strapped on headphones blaring “fast-paced music.” It’s his pre-meet ritual.

“I listen to fast-paced music because it will get my heart rate up,” he said. “So when I get on the board, it can lower a little bit. And it keeps my mind off the meet.”

The sophomore said it was the greatest accomplishment so far in his collegiate career.

“So far,” he added. “I would love to add to it.”

To qualify for the NCAA meet, he will have to perform well at Diving Zones in March. A score similar to the one he posted Wednesday would easily advance him.

The men’s 3-meter diving was just one of four finals Wednesday.

The men’s and women’s 800-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay finals were also held.

Auburn’s 800-yard freestyle team became the first-ever group of four American females to break the seven-minute mark.

Their time of 6:57.28 shattered the SEC, U.S. Open, NCAA and American records. The team broke the previous American record of 7:00.89 by just short of an astounding three seconds.

Alabama’s team of Kate Gray, Agustina de Giovanni, Vanessa Von der Heyde and Nicki Roberts finished in seventh place with a time of 7:21.02.

Tennessee won the same event in the men’s category with a time of 6:19.18. Both the Volunteers and Florida broke the pool record in the event.

Alabama’s team of Denes Zubcsek, Catalin Cosma, Alin Mihalca and Sam Morgan finished in fifth place with a time of 6:30.92. McIlquham said that time is on the cusp of what got invited to the NCAA meet last year.

In the Women’s 200 medley relay, Florida set a new SEC record with a time of 1:37.23. Alabama’s team of Allyson Angle, Agustina de Giovanni, Ida Persson and Erin Sparks placed seventh with a time of 1:40.7. McIlquham said that time has made the NCAA cut every year.

In the men’s category, Alabama’s team of Chris Perry, Luke Boutwell, Clint McClendon and Mike Jones finished seventh out of eight teams with a time of 1:29.58.

Alabama’s Lauren Dunn finished in seventh place in the women’s one meter diving final.

The entire men’s team is currently in fourth place with 80 points. The women’s team is in eight place out of ten with 63 points.

“The seven teams in front of [the women] are all ranked in the top 20,” McIlquham said. “Our mission here is to get our NCAA cuts, get some school records, get out than and get as many kids qualified for NCAA as we can.

“It’s a four day meet. This is day one. We’re going to keep plugging away.”