2022 NCAA Men’s Championships: Wait is Worth It for Texas A&M’s Kurtis Mathews In Diving

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2022 NCAA Men’s Championships: Wait is Worth It for Texas A&M’s Kurtis Mathews In Diving

If you anticipated a battle of seniors in 1-meter diving at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Championships, you were right. You might not have picked the upperclassmen on top. But the one who ended up getting the win had enough belief in himself to make up for it.

Kurtis Mathews of Texas A&M had waited since 2019 to compete again at NCAAs, and he made it worth while. The fifth-year senior scored 438.20 points, winning the title Thursday in Atlanta.

Mathews didn’t compete at NCAAs last year due to obligations with the Australian national team, despite winning the SEC title on 3-meter and a silver medal in 1-meter in 2021. He also qualified for the 2020 NCAA championships before it was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. The native of Sydney finished 31st on 1-meter in 2019 at NCAAs.

“I wasn’t able to compete, and coming back this year after a decent performance at our conference meet, I wanted to come out and finish,” Mathews said. “This is the last time I get to be here, so I wanted to try my best and see if I could end up on the podium, and it was an excellent field. Everyone was amazing. I just was lucky enough to win today.”

Mathews was tops among a trio of seniors. Andrew Capobianco of Indiana finished second in 420.25. The senior American Olympian will look to defend his gold in the 3-meter event later in the weekend. He finished fourth last year.

Third in the 2021 meet was LSU’s Juan Hernandez Celaya. The Olympian from Mexico was third again Thursday night, with a score of 413.20. Fourth was Columbia junior Jonathan Suckow in 402.75. When last he competed at NCAAs, back in 2019, Suckow finished 22nd on 1-meter. He was also fifth on 3-meter that year

Four seniors made the final, with UNC’s Anton Down Jenkins eighth.

For Mathews, the wait has been arduous. Hernandez and Capobianco have racked up the accolades in NCAAs while Mathews has waited to compete. Thursday was proof of how much he’s improved in that time.

“I would consider myself to be on the same level as (Capobianco), and the past couple of years, he’s been on the podium for 1-meter and 3-meter,” Mathews said. “So seeing that and not being able to compete, you sort of build up, not jealousy or anything like that, but you know you can be there too. So being able to come back and compete and take the gold medal home is fantastic.”

Event 6  Men 1 mtr Diving
=========================================================================
         Meet: M 473.75  3/28/2013 Kristian Ipsen, Stanford
         Pool: P 475.80  2/26/2011 Nick McCrory, Duke
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Mathews, Kurtis        SR TAMU               400.80     438.20   20  
  2 Capobianco, Andrew     SR Indiana            405.30     420.25   17  
  3 Hernandez, Juan        SR LSU                374.90     413.20   16  
  4 Suckow, Jonathan       JR Columbia           377.15     402.75   15  
  5 Yost, Lyle             JR Ohio St            398.50     386.60   14  
  6 Henninger, Quentin     FR Indiana            381.15     378.80   13  
  7 Markentin, Bjorn       JR Arizona            358.55     358.25   12  
  8 Down Jenkins, Anton    SR UNC                365.35     345.95   11  
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Downs, Tyler           FR Purdue             345.05     383.65    9  
 10 Rzepka, Jordan         FR Purdue             334.50     372.60    7  
 11 Casey, Conor           SR Stanford           336.90     370.55    6  
 12 Ryan, Jack             FR Stanford           333.95     347.80    5  
 13 Hardigree, Parker      SR SMU                332.55     342.60    4  
 14 Li, Zhenwei            SR Alabama            333.00     336.50    3  
 15 Pruitt, Connor         SR Auburn             356.90     321.70    2  
 16 Wesson, Adam           FR Harvard            331.00     276.35    1

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