Garcia Claims Titles at U.S. National Diving Championships

Auburn's Caesar Garcia claimed two titles, teaming up with fellow Tiger Matt Bricker for one of them, as USA Diving held its annual U.S. National Diving Championships last week.

Garcia, who will represent the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, on the platform, held off Bricker to win the men's 10-meter platform title. Garcia scored a 625.77 while Bricker placed second with a 617.64.

The duo also teamed up to win the men's 10-meter platform synchronized event with a final round score of 346.53.

Garcia, senior in the Samuel Ginn Department of Mechanical Engineering from Baton Rouge, La., excels in the classroom as well. A three-time Academic All American with a 3.92 GPA, Garcia has won numerous academic honors including USA Diving's Sportsman of the Year, mechanical engineering's student of the year and selection to Verizon's Academic All-America first team.

In the individual platform semifinals, Garcia had posted a second-place score of 585.42 while Bricker was third at 577.62. Both were behind leader Kyle Prandi who had a 623.91 after the first two rounds. AU's Steven Segerlin was tenth with a 499.41.

Segerlin did find success of his own in the 3-meter synchronized finals as he teamed up with Jeremy Stultz of Pittsburgh to place third with a score of 256.50.

In other individual events, Garcia was fourth (568.23) and Segerlin sixth (531.93) in the 3-meter, qualifying both of them for the US National Team. Segerlin also placed sixth in the 1-meter (287.82).

At the conclusion of the meet, the Auburn Men's Diving squad was named the team champion and Shaffer, who has been named as a coach for the United States' Olympic Team, was named the Most Outstanding Coach of the Meet.

On the women's side, Ashley Rubenstein scored a fifth-place finish in the 3-meter competition with a 465.33, representing her first final at a US National Meet.