Pippen Dives Into NCAAs As Merchant Marine Academy Defeats Hunter College

Senior diver Marliana Pippen qualified for NCAA competition to highlight Thursday night's 126-108 triumph over Hunter College at O'Hara Pool.

Pippen's score of 252.30 on the 1-meter board, not only qualified her for NCAA competition (score of 245.00 to qualify), but also broke the school record of 240.00, previously set by Michelle Wysocki in 1994.

"I am very excited for Marliana," said head coach Sean Tedesco. "She has worked hard to achieve her goal of making NCAAs."

Pippen was a double-event winner for the night, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving competitions.

Pippen was anxious to qualify after an eye injury ended her junior-year season early and missing her freshman season due to knee surgery.

"They grow them tough in Alabama," said diving coach Kevin Ryan. "Marliana is our diving team captain and has worked very hard at increasing her dive list in order to position herself to be a player at the big dance. Her leadership skills have done wonders in bringing along the other divers."

Pippen's performance off the 1-meter board qualifies her for the first phase of three phases in the NCAA Diving process.

In the swimming portion of the meet, sophomore Robyn Jiminez was also a double-event winner, finishing first in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke. Junior Morgan Evans had a great swim in her first 1000-yard freestyle, finishing first with a time of 12:01.60.

Other event winners include junior Kimberly Sercel and senior Allyson Christensen. With a time of 1:05.51, Sercel beat out Hunter's Iliana Bitis. Christensen finished first in the 200-yard freestyle, beating out Hunter's April Barabash by almost 3 seconds.

Senior Carly Moore dropped six seconds from her season best in the 200-yard freestyle (2:25.06) and junior Elizabeth Mocke dropped three seconds from her season best in the 100-yard butterfly (1:16.97). Mocke came in seven seconds shy of Jimenez's time. Sophomore Caitlyn Lundy also dropped time, losing three seconds from her time in the 100-yard freestyle (1:05.98).