The Texas men’s diving team traveled to the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Kentucky, this week to compete in the 2021 NCAA Zone D Diving Championship.
The Longhorns finished first in the Championship Team Awards with an astonishing 115 total points behind strong individual performances from senior Jordan Windle, freshman Noah Duperre and sophomore Andrew Harness. The trio combined for over 100 of the team’s total points, and freshman Brendan McCourt and junior Andrew Gawin-Parigini chipped in an additional 13. Texas won the meet by 73 points.
In the men’s 3-meter final, Windle pulled off the victory with a total of 876.15 points. After falling to second place in the prelims of the event to LSU senior Juan Celaya-Hernadez, Windle was nearly perfect in the final. His third dive, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault tuck, a 3.5 on the dive difficulty scale, earned him a total of 87.50 points. Windle finished the event with an average round score of 76.23.
Following Windle's example, Duperre finished third in the event with 757.75 total points. Harness finished just behind him in fourth with 752.15. All three men earned NCAA Championships qualifying spots in the event.
At the platform, the story was the same. Windle, a platform diving specialist, dominated the event with another first-place finish at 870.20 points, more than 76 points ahead of the second-place diver.
Windle started the event off strong, executing his first dive, an inward 3 1/2 somersault tuck, impeccably and earning a score of 94.40 points. Four of the seven judges awarded Windle perfect scores on the dive.
Windle didn’t let up, however, attempting in his fourth dive the highest difficulty dive seen at the event, a forward 4 1/2 somersault tuck, ranked a 3.7 on the dive difficulty scale. Windle secured a score of 77.70, refusing to give up the top position for the remainder of the event.
His teammates Duperre and Harness finished behind him with scores of 720.45 and 718.90 points, placing them in third and fourth place, respectively. Windle, Duperre and Harness all earned NCAA Championships qualifying spots in this event as well.
Up to this point, Windle was able to come out on top in every event. With that said, in the men’s 1-meter final, Celaya-Hernandez was able to finally take down Windle, finishing first with a score of 840.25 points. Unsurprisingly, Windle finished just behind him in second with a score of 822.80.
However, Windle’s teammates had his back and helped Texas finish the tournament strong. Duperre and Harness finished the event in third and fourth with scores of 728.10 and 678.20.
Next, the Texas swimming and diving team will look forward to the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 24-27 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
