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University of Massachusets Athletics
Cook Ready For UMass' First Ever NCAA Diving Championships
March 23, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 23, 2009
AMHERST, Mass. - Freshman Jason Cook will head to College Station, Texas this week to compete at the NCAA Diving Championships. The Championships, hosted by Texas A&M, will begin Thursday, March 26 and continue through Saturday, March 28. Cook is the first diver in UMass history to ever qualify for and compete at the NCAA Diving Championships. The freshman qualified for the Championships after finishing second of 57 in the one-meter dive with a score of 641.25 at the Zone A Regionals one week ago.
In his first year of collegiate competition, Cook already holds the UMass record in the three-meter dive (359.63), a mark he set in his first career meet at BU, and also sits in second-place all-time at UMass in the one-meter dive after scoring 325.10 at the Atlantic 10 Championships. The freshman also broke the A-10 records in both the one-meter (636.85) and the three-meter (680.75) which were both previously held by the former UMass standout R.J. Rappe. For his record-breaking efforts at this year's A-10 Championships, Cook was named A-10 Most Outstanding Diver.
The Amherst, Mass. native finished his first season with 16 individual first-place finishes and was undefeated in the three-meter dive until competing at the Zone A Regionals. In the one-meter dive, Cook finished only as low as second twice during the season, both times coming against Boston University's Andre Watson, who Cook placed ahead of in the event at the Regionals, allowing him to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
