NCAA D-II NATIONALS

CLARION’S WOLF WINS RECORD7^TH NCAA TITLE/NAMED D-II FEMALE “DIVER OF THE YEAR”

            (Buffalo, N.Y.): Clarion senior diver Jamie Wolf (South Park), the most prolific women’s diver in NCAA Division II history,  won a record 7^th NCAA Division II national title in eight tries on Saturday night and in the process was named the NCAA Division II Female “Diver of the Year”. .

            Held at the Flickinger Center in Buffalo, New York, Wolf won the three meter competition with a score of 499.15, ahead of teammate Teagan Riggs (Jr. Meadville) who was second with a total of 429.15.

            Wolf also won the one meter event on Thursday with an NCAA record total of 453.75 points, topping the D-II record by 18.10 points.

            For Wolf, she capped a brilliant career that tops anything ever dreamed of at the NCAA Division II level. Prior to Wolf, three divers in the history of NCAA Division II diving shared the record for most individual championships winning four each. Wolf came on the scene in 2004 and won two titles, won two titles in 2005, one in 2006 and two this year for her total of 7 diving championships. In her only non-championship performance, which was in 2006, she was second on one meter.

            “She is a tremendous athlete and champion,” said Clarion diving coach Dave Hrovat. “She’s humble, dedicated and hard working, all the things you could possibly ask for in a student athlete.”

            Diving was obviously a strong event for the Golden Eagles again tonight. With Wolf first and Riggs second, Clarion also had Ginny Saras (Jr. Sugarloaf – Hazleton) finish 6^th with a score of 382.15, and Jena Gardone (Fr. Apollo – Kiski Area) place 16^th with 277.90 points.

            In other Clarion women’s action, Lori Leitzinger (Jr. State College) placed 8^th  in the 200 backstroke (2:08.62), Denise Simens (So. Hollister, Ca.) was 11^th in the 200 breaststroke (2:23.44) and Brittany Hanzl (Sr. Whitehall) was 13^th in the 100 freestyle (52.43). The night ended with the 400 free relay team of Hanzl, Stacy Ogden (Sr. Clearfield), Rebecca Burgess (Fr. Gibsonia – Pine Richland) and Kristy Clarke (Sr. Campbell Hall, N.Y.) finish seventh with a time of 3:32.92.

            As a team Clarion posted a quality 8^th place team finish scoring 243 team points. Drury won the team title with 646.5 points, Truman State was second with 518 and Cal San Diego was third with 318.

            On the men’s side senior freestyler Adley Kilgore (Airville – Red Lion) placed 15^th in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.95, and the 400 free relay team of Kilgore, A.J. Claypool (So. Kittanning), Mike Cohen (Jr. Pickerington, Oh.) and Ryan Thiel (Fr. Ligonier) placed 13^th with a time of 3:07.46.

            The men’s national championship saw Drury win the team title with 665.5 points, North Dakota second with 485 and Wayne State third with 360 points. Clarion finished in 12^th place with 130 team points.

            CLARION NOTES: Jamie Wolf has now been the D-II Female “Diver of the Year” in three of her four years… She previously won the award in 2004, 05, and now in 2007… She is a 4.0 student athlete at Clarion and is majoring in Molecular Biology… Diving Coach Dave Hrovat was also named the NCAA Division II Women’s Diving “Coach of the Year”. It is the 15^th time he has been named the D-II “Coach of the Year” … He has won the women’s top honor 8 times and the men’s award 7 times… He attended Chartiers Valley High, was an All-American at Clemson, coached for 2 years at Virginia Tech before coming to Clarion…. The NCAA record of four diving national titles was shared by three divers before Wolf entered the scene… Two of those divers were also from Clarion – They were Doria Mamalo and Stephanie Sutton, who each won four national titles.