March 10, 2015

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IOWA CITY, Iowa - Missouri State senior Garrett Nevels became the third diver in school history to qualify for the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Monday, March 9, at the Zone D Diving Championships on the campus of the University of Iowa.

Nevels qualified for the NCAA Championships at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center by finishing in eighth place in 1-meter diving at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championship meet Monday. Needing to finish in the top eight in Zone D to qualify for the NCAA Championships, Nevels made it to the 1-meter finals Monday evening by getting 10th in the prelims with 335.55 points.

The Lee's Summit native was able to propel himself into the eighth slot in the finals, scoring a combined 364.35 points on six-consecutive dives with scores of 66.65, 63.00, 57.00, 65.60, 57.00 and 55.10.

"In the prelims I actually missed one of my dives, so from that point on I kind of knew I had to zero-in and put my game face on," senior Garrett Nevels said. "From that point on it was just a lot of high energy and going all out and leaving it all on the table. Missing that one dive actually helped having something to come back for."

Nevels was able to qualify ahead of ninth-place finisher Matt Barnard of the University of Minnesota by 17.80 points, who went into the finals with a higher score than the Missouri State diver.

"I am so incredibly proud of Garrett (Nevels) and Coach (Jim) Huelskamp," head coach Dave Collins said. "Today's accomplishment is four years of dedication and hard work coming together for one special experience."

"As a coach, that was always something that I've always dreamed about," head diving coach Jim Huelskamp said of an MSU diving qualifier. "I remember when I first started coaching, I couldn't wait until I got a kid to qualify for the state high school championship, then I couldn't wait for another to make the top-12, then all of a sudden you look and their getting a state title. Then you get to the college level and you look at the NCAA's and diving has just taken off. It's every coach's dream to have a diver with the talent and ability to make it to the NCAA's. This is the biggest thing I've ever done in my career. It's very exciting."

With scores carrying over from the preliminary session, Nevels was only 1.30 points behind Southern Methodist's Devin Burnett for seventh place.

"That was big with Garrett," Huelskamp said. "He's been a diver that ever since his freshman year, has qualified for zones. He's always finished top 16 or top 18, where he's always in the championship finals competing. This year he added a few new dives to his list, he added his two-and-a-half full-out and his front three-and-a-half tuck, which was keeping him out from the bigger divers. Everything else ended up falling into place. It's a big deal when we got that dryland facility. It gave him the extra edge with practice time. We're going up against some schools with some really nice facilities and that dryland facility really made a big impact for him."

In his fourth and final appearance at the Zone D meet, Nevels's topped his previous best performance, which was a 12th-place finish on the 1-meter board as a sophomore in Houston, Texas.

"It was satisfying, even more satisfying after putting in three years of work," Nevels said. "Last year we had some mishaps, so it was nice to kind of achieve that goal I had."

Nevels is the first MSU diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 27 years, joining the likes of former MSU divers Don Fearon and Eric Christensen to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships. Fearon was the first ever Bear to make an NCAA appearance in 1982, while Christensen competed in 1987 and 1988 at the NCAA level in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

The 3-meter Zone D Men's Diving Championships begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 10. The MSU senior will be competing against 30 others vying to advance through the preliminary round to the finals. Eighteen competitors will advance to the finals, with six automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships in 3-meter diving.

Because Nevels has already qualified for the NCAA Championships on the 1-meter board, he will need a top-12 finish in the 3-meter finals to be able to compete in both events at the NCAA level beginning on March 26, which will also take place in Iowa City on Iowa's campus.

"The pressure is gone which is nice," Nevels said. "I only have to get in the top 12 now compared to the top six, so I think tomorrow I can just go out and have fun and really have a more relaxed day of diving, versus today where it was really game time."

"You go into the 3-meter event not having to be in the top six, now he only has to get in the top 12," Huelskamp said. "He's set himself up in a great position, he's got big D.D.'s (degree of difficulties), he's a very competitive diver and he does the dives the kids at the bigger schools are doing, so he will be right there. He's been there and experienced it so that's the good thing about going into tomorrow."

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