March 13, 2007
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Evan Stowers will compete in the 2007 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, March 15-17, in Minneapolis, Minn., at the University Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
Stowers, a junior from Independence, Ky., is a two-time NCAA qualifier and made the meet this year with a fourth-place finish on the one-meter springboard. He posted a score of 708.30 to punch his ticket to NCAAs.
“This year was a lot more important, because every year I want to progress and do better than the year before,” said Stowers. “So, just by making the meet I have already set myself up to finish higher than I did on springboard, and maybe become an All-American again this year.”
Stowers earned All-America honors at last year’s NCAA Championships in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. He finished sixth on the platform and this year he hopes to finish in the top 16 in all three events.
“Yeah, top 16 is definitely a goal as a whole, for all of them,” said Stowers. “Really I would like to be an All-American and get top eight. “Realistically, I think top 16 is definitely something I can achieve on all of them.”
Diving Coach John Ames doesn’t see any reason for Stowers not to finish in the top 16 in all three events at nationals.
“I do think that he can be top eight in all three events,” said Ames. “I also think that he can be top 16 in all three. I would say that that is a very reasonable expectation for him to be in the top 16, if we do see what we saw in prelims at zones and maybe top eight might be a possibility. That would be pretty huge to finish top eight in all three.”
The national championship meet can be followed on www.gophersports.com. Stowers will dive in the prelims of the one-meter board on Thursday, three-meter will be on Friday and Platform follows on Saturday. All prelims will be at 12:30 p.m. with the finals following at 6 p.m. ET.
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