Nemtsanov garners no awards at NCAA meet

There must be something unlucky about the number three.

Dennis Nemtsanov had three chances… There must be something unlucky about the number three.

Dennis Nemtsanov had three chances to become the third diver in Pitt history to receive at least Honorable Mention All-America Honors in three different years. The competition in which he would do it? The three-day NCAA Swimming and Diving championships in Minneapolis, Minn. But the junior couldn’t manage any finishes above 20th place, and walked away from the meet empty-handed for the first time in his career.

Pitt diving coach Julian Krug didn’t take it easy on his squad when asked about the results.

“It just was not a particularly good meet,” he explained. “You can start listing reasons why things went wrong, but the bottom line is that it just was not a good meet.”

The diving competition’s schedule had one event per day, meaning that Nemtsanov had an opportunity each day from Thursday to Saturday to grab All-American honors. His first chance came in the 1-meter springboard event on Thursday. However, the contest did not treat him kindly. After earning Honorable Mention All-America in the event last year, he finished in 29th place this time around.

While the score was a fall from his showing at last year’s NCAA Championships, the finish was even more surprising given the performances that preceded it. At Big East Conference championships, Nemtsanov finished first in the event with an overall score of 348.1 points. That total set a new school record for a six-set dive on the 1-meter board. And at Zone ‘A’ qualifying at the United States Naval Academy, the junior sensation again captured first place.

On Friday, Nemtsanov fared better in the 3-meter event, though not by much. His score of 488.85 put him in 23rd place. The low result meant that he would not earn All-America honors in either springboard event.

Joona Puhakka of Arizona State won both of the springboard events. In the 1-meter, he blew out the field, his score of 421.05 placing him just shy of 34 points ahead of the rest of the field. In the 3-meter, he won the event with a score of 645.20, more than 14 points ahead of the nearest competitor.

Zone ‘A’ 3-meter champion Adam Pierce finished 14th in the event, but the Penn State diver was involved in some exciting diving in the 1-meter event. Less than seven points separated the 12th-place finisher from the 16th-place finisher. Pierce finished 13th, right in the thick of this competitive pack.

In platform diving, Nemtsanov was finally able to crack the top 20. His score of 404.70 put him in 20th place, just ahead of Louisiana State’s Niko Dalman. Nemtsanov earned Honorable Mention All-America in the event two years ago. Kent DeMond of Princeton, who won the Zone ‘A’ regional championships, could only garner a 15th-place finish on Saturday.

Southern and western schools dominated the platform competition. Of the top 10 divers, each was from a school in the deep South, or from the University of Southern California. Both eventual winner Matthew Bricker and runner-up Steve Segerlin are from Auburn, which finished first overall at the meet to win its third straight NCAA swimming and diving title.

But it didn’t stop at the platform. The same schools held many of the high places on the springboards as well. This didn’t surprise Krug.

“Basically, these guys are competing against each other all year long,” said Krug, referring to the top finishers. “[Dennis] hasn’t been in a major competition against any of these people since last year’s NCAA meet.” The lack of top-notch competition all season clearly hurt the diver in this meet.

Nemtsanov, who is only a junior, will still have one more chance to become the third Panther in swimming and diving history to earn Honorable Mention All-America status or higher in three separate years. He would join Ron Gainsford (1952-54) and John Soulakis (1994-95, 1997) as the only Pitt divers to accomplish the feat. Next year’s championships will be hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Don’t look for Nemtsanov to relax just yet, though. Both he and Jeremy Stultz, Pitt’s freshman phenom, will compete in the America’s Cup meet in Midland, Texas, from April 7 to 9.