Diea Crowned First NCAA Platform Diving Champion in Ohio State History – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swim & Dive
March 22, 2003
Columbus, OH – Natalia Diea (Sr., Austin, Texas/University of Texas) scored a 476.65 in the platform dive at the 2003 NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala., to take first place and become Ohio State’s first platform champion in program history. With her performance, she also became the first Buckeye to win an NCAA swimming or diving national title since 1988. Ohio State was one of just seven schools and the only Big Ten school to score a champion at the 2003 NCAA meet.
Diea took the event by a significant margin, beating out Blythe Hartley of Southern California (456.90) by 19.75 points. Trishia Tumlinson of Arizona State took third with a score of 456.55 and Sara Hildebrand of Indiana, the lone Big Ten competitor to defeat Diea in the platform at the 2003 Big Ten Championships, took fourth (452.15).
“Natalia was an extremely tough competitor,” Vince Panzano, Ohio State head diving coach, said. “She hit all five dives, had a very solid performance and blew the field away. She transferred to Ohio State (from Texas in 2000) to win a national title and this was the way to go out. She dove extremely well, refused to lose and beat out some Olympians and World Champion divers.”
In her first competition of the NCAA championships on Friday, Diea placed 25th in the 3-meter dive with a preliminary round score of 264.35.
The NCAA title was the first of Diea’s collegiate career. In her last trip to the NCAA championships in 2001, the 2002 Second Team All-Big Ten honoree and four-time all-conference selection finished sixth in the platform (423.50) and 10th in the 3-meter (478.55). As a part of the Texas Longhorns diving staff, Diea placed third in the platform at the 1999 NCAA Championships. The Austin, Texas-native was a two-time Big 12 Platform Diving Champion and was named 2000 Big 12 Diver of the Year.
2003 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships Event 20: Platform Diving, Final Results
OPTIONAL LIMITED RANK NAME YEAR TEAM DD PRELIM DD FINALS
1 DIEA, NATALIA SR OHIO STATE 242.50 410.15 167.65 476.65 2 HARTLEY, BLYTHE SO SOUTHERN CAL. 274.30 439.50 165.20 456.90 3 TUMLINSON, TRISHA SO ARIZONA STATE 260.00 418.00 158.00 456.55 4 HILDEBRAND, SARA SR INDIANA 296.85 459.05 162.20 452.15 5 CARDINELL,CASSANDRA JR INDIANA 252.05 401.40 149.35 436.45 6 FEBVAY,CLAIRE FR ARIZONA 254.85 396.50 141.65 420.20 7 MATTHYS, LORI SR INDIANA 261.55 410.55 149.00 402.15 8 GOSNELL, REGAN SR UCLA 270.65 403.15 132.50 396.90
9 CORNTHWAITE, REBECCA SO MINNESOTA 245.90 394.75 10 MANNING, TIFFANY SO FLORIDA STATE 244.20 393.45 11 WELLS, KYLEE JR TENNESSEE 221.85 391.35 12 MORAN, AMANDA JR ARKANSAS 252.85 387.45 13 POHORENEC, NICOLE SO TEXAS 214.65 378.10 14 BEEME, DANIELA FR ARIZONA 215.15 376.15 15 GORST, BARBARA SR LOUISIANA STATE 238.65 372.80 16 GAVOZDEA, ADELA SO NORTHEASTERN 215.70 371.80
17 BORTENLANGER,KATHERN SR ALABAMA 212.60 345.45 18 ALMAZAN, AZUL FR HOUSTON 204.85 344.25 19 HARTZELL, ALLY SO TEXAS 220.05 344.10 20 MURPHY, McKENZE SR STANFORD 281.50 320.55 21 CAMPIOLI, MARY SO GEORGE MASON 204.75 319.25
