INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - On the first day of the Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships, the Vikings already have a top-finisher. Senior Matt Akers took home the top spot in the 1m dive with a final score of 321.20. Akers, who scored 283.35 in the preliminary round, finished runner-up for three years in a row prior to Monday's No. 1 overall finish. He became the first Cleveland State diver to win the 1-meter dive at the #HLSD Championships since Danny Roberts in 2014.
"Today was really cool," said Hannah Burandt. "Matt is addicted to diving. He's obsessed with it. For him to perform the way he did and win it - it's just amazing. It took placing runner-up for three years in a row, a pandemic and no pool for him to overcome that second-place finish. It was just amazing."
"I'm really excited to win," said Akers. "I've been runner-up three years in a row and Rich (Karban) finally told me 'Hey, man, why don't you finally put a rip on it for once?' This win, I couldn't have done it without my teammates making me smile before every single dive. I'm someone who will get all up in my head and they make it fun for me. That's why I won."
In the preliminary round of the 1m dive, Akers finished third (283.35), while Michael Slaughter (224.25) and Trevor Mahoney (214.00) each finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Slaughter and Mahoney finished right behind one another in the consolation round, snagging third and fourth place finishes.
On the women's side, Erica Henrichsen tabbed a fourth-place finish in the women's 3m dive with an overall score of 244.95. The senior jumped four spots in the final round after finishing eighth in the preliminary, scoring 226.00.
"Last year, Erica finished 12th and for her to come off of a broken collarbone and place fourth and train the least she's ever been able to train was nothing short of remarkable," Burandt said. "What we saw from her was confidence. It was confidence that we've never seen before."
Fellow Cleveland State diver Margaret Micko competed in the 3m diving championship, finishing fifth in the consolation round.
"Maggie was our energy captain today," Burandt said. "She was to us what Ben Sternberg is to men's basketball. Dennis Gates and Ben joined our team meeting via Zoom and said that the most connected team will win and I believe we were the most connected team and that started with the energy Maggie was bringing to the pool. Each of her teammates fed off of her energy. It was so much fun."
"Today was an incredible day for our diving community," said diving coach Richa Karban. "I received text messages from Jim Fedor, my first coach at Cleveland State, Bill Edgar, the 1979 Penn-Ohio champion, Josh Gonzalez, a two-time champion, and so many more. So many former coaches and student-athletes are paying attention to what this team is doing and that says a lot about the strength of our diving family at Cleveland State."
The Vikes will be back on the diving board on Tuesday, as the men will compete in the 3m championship, while the women will dive off of the 1m board.
"Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a new day," said Burandt. "The great thing about swimming and diving is that it's a brand new day. You can ride on the momentum or you can decide to change course. It's all in the head and it's all in the heart. We've got great heads on our shoulders and some big hearts in our chests. The biggest thing is that we're going to have fun."
Both the preliminary and final rounds will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
