ATLANTA – Purdue's Tyler Downs and Greg Duncan earned All-America honors while competing for the national title in 3-meter diving Friday at the NCAA Championships.
Downs finished fifth overall in his first career championship final at NCAAs. It was the second top-10 showing of the week for the freshman. Duncan placed seventh while competing in his second career championship final at NCAAs. He closed out his college career as a multi-year All-American on both springboards.
Downs and Duncan finished 2-3 in the afternoon prelim to clinch their All-America accolades. They gave Purdue a pair of full-fledged All-Americans (top 8) in a springboard event at NCAAs for the first time since Steele Johnson and Joe Cifelli did on 1-meter in 2017. They also teamed up to account for 26 team points with their top-seven showings, helping the Boilermakers move up to 17th place in the team scoring with 42 points.
Purdue also raced in a relay for the third straight night at NCAAs, posting a time of 3:08.06 in the 400 medley relay. Nikola Aćin (47.29, back), Nick Sherman (52.62, breast), Brady Samuels (45.06, fly) and Keelan Hart (43.09, free) all posted 100-yard splits that would rank among the Purdue all-time top 10 in their respective strokes. Since leadoff leg splits do count among the all-time leaderboards, Aćin moved into seventh place on the 100 back list with his career best. Samuels went faster than his program record (45.64) in the 100 fly.
Downs and Duncan posted near identical scores of 413.95 and 413.30 to finish top three among a field of 47 in the prelim. They both finished strong with big scores – 81.60 for Downs, 78.75 for Duncan – in the final round to clinch their berths in the championship final. Freshman Sam Bennett also had a strong showing, placing 17th (of 47) in his debut at the NCAA Championships. It marked the second day in a row Purdue had a 17th-place showing, just one spot shy of a scoring finish.
Downs closed his list with another 80-point dive in the championship final. He also had the top-scoring dives in the second and fourth rounds. But three scores in the 60s took him out of medal contention. For Duncan, it was a missed dive in round 4 that kept him from being able to improve upon his prelim showing. Duncan did rip an 80-point dive that was the top-scoring effort in all of round 3.
The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday with Aćin in the 100 free, Ben Bramley and Jordan Rzepka joining Downs in platform diving, and the same relay quartet teaming up for the 400 freestyle relay.
FRIDAY AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
3-Meter Diving
Tyler Downs, 438.00 – Finished 5th in Championship Final (14 Points); All-American
Greg Duncan, 413.30 (Prelim Score) – Finished 7th in Championship Final (12 Points); All-American
Sam Bennett, 366.20 – Finished 17th in Prelims
Jordan Rzepka, 330.00 – Finished 31st in Prelims
400 Medley Relay
Aćin, Sherman, Samuels & Hart, 3:08.06 – Finished 28th Overall
Aćin 47.29 split on leadoff leg is 7th in team history in 100 back
PURDUE'S REMAINING SCHEDULE AT NCAAs
Saturday, March 26 – 10 a.m. Swimming Prelims, 12 p.m. Diving Prelims // 6 p.m. Finals
• 100 Free – Nikola Aćin
• Platform Diving – Ben Bramley, Tyler Downs, Jordan Rzepka
• 400 Free Relay (Last Event of Finals) – Nikola Aćin, Keelan Hart, Brady Samuels, Nick Sherman
Downs finished fifth overall in his first career championship final at NCAAs. It was the second top-10 showing of the week for the freshman. Duncan placed seventh while competing in his second career championship final at NCAAs. He closed out his college career as a multi-year All-American on both springboards.
Downs and Duncan finished 2-3 in the afternoon prelim to clinch their All-America accolades. They gave Purdue a pair of full-fledged All-Americans (top 8) in a springboard event at NCAAs for the first time since Steele Johnson and Joe Cifelli did on 1-meter in 2017. They also teamed up to account for 26 team points with their top-seven showings, helping the Boilermakers move up to 17th place in the team scoring with 42 points.
Purdue also raced in a relay for the third straight night at NCAAs, posting a time of 3:08.06 in the 400 medley relay. Nikola Aćin (47.29, back), Nick Sherman (52.62, breast), Brady Samuels (45.06, fly) and Keelan Hart (43.09, free) all posted 100-yard splits that would rank among the Purdue all-time top 10 in their respective strokes. Since leadoff leg splits do count among the all-time leaderboards, Aćin moved into seventh place on the 100 back list with his career best. Samuels went faster than his program record (45.64) in the 100 fly.
Downs and Duncan posted near identical scores of 413.95 and 413.30 to finish top three among a field of 47 in the prelim. They both finished strong with big scores – 81.60 for Downs, 78.75 for Duncan – in the final round to clinch their berths in the championship final. Freshman Sam Bennett also had a strong showing, placing 17th (of 47) in his debut at the NCAA Championships. It marked the second day in a row Purdue had a 17th-place showing, just one spot shy of a scoring finish.
Downs closed his list with another 80-point dive in the championship final. He also had the top-scoring dives in the second and fourth rounds. But three scores in the 60s took him out of medal contention. For Duncan, it was a missed dive in round 4 that kept him from being able to improve upon his prelim showing. Duncan did rip an 80-point dive that was the top-scoring effort in all of round 3.
The NCAA Championships conclude Saturday with Aćin in the 100 free, Ben Bramley and Jordan Rzepka joining Downs in platform diving, and the same relay quartet teaming up for the 400 freestyle relay.
FRIDAY AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
3-Meter Diving
Tyler Downs, 438.00 – Finished 5th in Championship Final (14 Points); All-American
Greg Duncan, 413.30 (Prelim Score) – Finished 7th in Championship Final (12 Points); All-American
Sam Bennett, 366.20 – Finished 17th in Prelims
Jordan Rzepka, 330.00 – Finished 31st in Prelims
400 Medley Relay
Aćin, Sherman, Samuels & Hart, 3:08.06 – Finished 28th Overall
Aćin 47.29 split on leadoff leg is 7th in team history in 100 back
PURDUE'S REMAINING SCHEDULE AT NCAAs
Saturday, March 26 – 10 a.m. Swimming Prelims, 12 p.m. Diving Prelims // 6 p.m. Finals
• 100 Free – Nikola Aćin
• Platform Diving – Ben Bramley, Tyler Downs, Jordan Rzepka
• 400 Free Relay (Last Event of Finals) – Nikola Aćin, Keelan Hart, Brady Samuels, Nick Sherman