March 27, 2008

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Mizzou divers Greg DeStephen and Dante Jones completed their first day of action at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday. Jones' score of 267.75 in 1-meter diving prelims placed him among the field's top 25.

Jones, a rookie out of Columbia's very own Hickman High, lit up the well in his first ever NCAA dive. In fact, with his score of 60.45, he was one of only four divers to receive a score of 60.00 or better on their first dive. His following five dives were relatively inconsistent, however, and ranged from a pair of scores in the mid-20s to a score of 58.50. He climbed out of the well after his final dive with a score of 267.75 to finish 25th overall.

DeStephen registered solid scores of 50.70 and 54.60 in his first pair of dives, but trailed off a bit to finish with an overall six-dive score of 222.70.

Day two diving action at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center gets underway on Friday with 3-meter diving prelims at 4 p.m. CST. Check mutigers.com for live results and live streaming of the day's events.