(Chelsea Update would like to thank Bobby Lee for the information and photo in this story.)
Chelsea’s Jake Burris punched his ticket to the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championship Saturday, scoring the regional championship in 1-meter diving.
Burris will represent Albion College at the March 20-23 meet in Greensboro, N.C., after qualifying second out of the central region. Burris finished seventh in the 3-meter competition on Friday.
The Greensboro Aquatic Center was the site of the 2016 NCAA meet. Then a first-year student at Albion, Burris achieved All-America status with a sixth-place finish on the 1-meter board.
Burris was only three points out of fourth place in the 3-meter competition. A pair of low scoring dives kept him from moving up the highly competitive standings.
With his goal of reaching the NCAA Championship for the fourth time on the line, Coach and dad Eric Burris said Jake decided to have fun and he was able to keep his dives straight up and down.
Six of his 11 dives netted at least 46 points and he his last three – a reverse 2 ½, a back 1 ½ with a twist and a reverse 1 ½ with a twist – all produced more than 51 points.
Burris’ 490.10 total was 16 points ahead of runner up Dylan Glumac-Berberich of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
“Jake tightened up and a couple of dives dictated his finish in the 3-meter competition,” said Eric Burris, who added, “What a way to bounce back in the 1-meter competition. Jake has good memories of Greensboro and our goal is to have more fun and achieve a finish in the top eight.”
