![Colorado College's Howlett earns trip to NCAA Championships](/images/mswimdive/howlett_austin660a.jpg?max_width=450)
(Story courtesy of Colorado College)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Colorado College's Austin
Howlett secured a trip to the 2013 NCAA Division III Swimming
& Diving Championships by winning the 3-meter competition at
the Region II Diving Championships on Saturday.
The sophomore from Makawao, Hawaii, finished with 482.15
points, 24 more than James Stevick from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Colleges. Grinnell's Daniel Goldstein took third place with a score
of 370.95.
Howlett bounced back from a sub-par performance on Friday when
he finished third on the 1-meter board with 370.95 points.
“It was like night and day,” diving coach Ellen
Walker said. “He was a little nervous and had an off-day
on Friday. Today he was relaxed and smiling, and he kept getting
better and better all day.”
With two divers from the regional advancing to nationals, and
Stevick having secured one spot by winning the 1-meter event
yesterday, Howlett needed to beat Goldstein by more than 29.6
points. He did that and then some.
Howlett defeated Goldstein by 111.20 and will join Stevick at the
Conroe ISD Natatorium in Conroe, Texas, for the diving competition
on March 21 and 23.
“He really stepped up today, which was good to see,”
Walker said. “He knew he had to be the Grinnell diver.
“If he can pick up where he left off today, he has a great
chance at a top-16 or even a top-8 finish at nationals.”
Howlett, who owns the program's 11-dive records on both boards, is
the first Tiger to advance to nationals since Beth Olsen in
1989.