The Tennessee men have earned a big mid-season boost for the 2014-2015 academic year, as New Zealand diver Liam Stone verbally committed to join the program in January after visiting Knoxville last weekend.
Earlier this year, Stone became New Zealand’s first male diver at the Commonwealth Games since 1998. He wound up placing 7th out of 14 on the 1-meter springboard event and 14th out of 17 divers on the 3-meter springboard event. He also dove the 3-meter synchro event, but placed last (6th out of 6) in that event.
While diving scores are hard to compare across governing bodies and even across meets and judges, as a point of comparison: Stone’s 7th-place finish on the 1-meter was one spot higher than Canadian Riley McCormick. While McCormick’s best event internationally is the platform, he was 9th on the 1-meter and 3-meter at the 2013 NCAA Championships.
That means that if the transition goes well, the Tennessee men should be expecting a second diving scorer at NCAA’s to go with junior Mauricio Robles-Rodriguez, who picked up 24 points at last year’s meet.