Down-Jenkins Punches NCAA Ticket with Record Setting Performance

COLUMBIA, S.C— Gamecock sophomore Anton Down-Jenkins punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships Monday evening after a setting a new program record. The Wellington, New Zealand native placed first on the three-meter board at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships with a 12-dive score of 791.40.
 
After placing third in the qualifying round with a score 376.85, Down-Jenkins never looked back, taking the lead after his first dive. On his fourth dive, a forward 2 ½ somersault 2 twist pike, the Gamecock sophomore scored a 76.50 to extend his lead on the competition.

Down-Jenkins will be back at the NCAA Championships after an All-America performance in the three-meter event as a freshman last year.
 
Junior Grant Summers also advanced to the three-meter final, placing 14th. For the women, both junior Yu Qian Goh and freshman Mathilda Roxne made the one-meter finals, finishing 11th and 16th respectively.
 
Quotable Head Coach Todd Sherrit
“Today was a great day all the way around. I felt like this whole team performed very well. On the women’s side Yu Qian did a great job stayed steady the whole meet and did not miss a dive ended up finaling and finished 11. That puts her in position to go to the NCAA if she can crack the top seven tomorrow on the three meter. Mathilda Roxne did a phenomenal job as a freshman finaling and finishing in 16th. Only had one small missed otherwise stayed steady. With 52 competitors each round took about 30 min. Very difficult competition and our girls did extremely well. On the men’s side outstanding performance by Anton Jenkins. Winning today and setting a new school record was a tremendous feat. He missed his first dive and then crushed every one after that and beat a seasoned field. This is an extremely difficult meet to win and should help him carry some momentum into the National Championships. Grant Summers also had a good day. He did not miss anything and stayed steady finaling, 14th was a great accomplishment. Alex Claus did some outstanding dives as well and has improved and just keeps getting better. His improvement is a real inspiration to the team and brings depth to our men’s program. Tomorrow we have to keep this up and get our girls into the Nationals. Their 3 meter is their best board tomorrow so it should be a great contest. Our men need to continue to bring there best dives and not let up. Hope to bring another win home.”
 
Up Next For the Gamecocks
The Gamecocks will be back in action tomorrow for the Men’s 1 meter and Women’s 3 meter boards.
           
For more swimming updates, follow South Carolina Swimming and Diving on Twitter at @GamecockSwim.
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