March 7, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. — South Carolina freshman Cole Miller broke the school record in the men’s platform diving finals on Wednesday with a 12-dive score of 609.25 at the NCAA Zone B meet at Auburn’s James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
Miller, who finished 10th overall, broke former Gamecock Brandon Hulko’s record of 599.08, which was set in 1999. Despite not qualifying for the NCAA Championships, Miller had a solid week as he finished 14th in the three-meter springboard competition and 20th on the one-meter board.
“We had another great day,” South Carolina diving coach Todd Sherritt said. “Cole Miller did an incredible job today finishing 10th and breaking the school record. (Freshman) Patricia Kranz followed that up and got 11th. We have only trained four times on the 10-meter this year, so this is a special finish for us. Cole and Patti have done a phenomenal job for their freshman year. I expect to see some wins in the near future.”
Kranz earned her 11th-place finish with a 10-dive score of 442.70. Senior Courtney Forcucci just missed out on the finals, as she placed 18th in the preliminaries with a five-dive score of 215.80.
Forcucci will now turn her focus to next week’s NCAA Championships, which will be held at Auburn on March 15-17. She qualified for the national meet with her second-place finish in the one-meter springboard competition on Monday. Forcucci will represent the Gamecocks along with sophomore swimmers Rachael Schaffer and Amanda Rutqvist.
