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Duke

SWIM/DIVE: McCrory, Long Advance to 1M Finals at Tennessee Diving Invite

Jan 4, 2013

Knoxville, Tenn. — Action continued Friday at the Tennessee Diving Invitational, with two Blue Devils advancing to the finals of the men’s 3-meter springboard event.

Following a second-place finish on the 1-meter board Thursday, junior Nick McCrory continued to impress in his first collegiate competition since March of 2011. The Olympic bronze medalist took third out of 46 divers in the preliminary round of the 3-meter competition and totaled 370.70 points in the final to finish third overall. His highest-scoring dive of the finals round came on a back 2 ½ somersault in the tuck position which earned an award of 75.60 points from the judges.

Senior Jordan Long also qualified for the 3-meter finals, where he came in ninth overall with a score of 333.30. Long, who won a 3-meter title in his last outing at the Nike Cup, ended the afternoon with an inward 2 ½ somersault in the pike position which garnered was awarded 66.00 points by the judges.

In addition, both McCrory and Long’s scores qualified them for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in March.

Meanwhile, freshman Deon Reid earned a mark of 284.70 to finish 23rd in the 1-meter preliminaries.

The second day of competition in Knoxville also saw 2012 Olympic silver medalist Abby Johnston make her return to collegiate diving. Johnston and freshman Kendall McClenney competed in the preliminary round of the women’s 1-meter springboard event, with Johnston finishing 26th at 227.80 points and McClenney scoring 217.95 points to place 36th.

The invitational concludes Saturday at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries and finals of the men’s and women’s platform diving events.