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Tennessee Excels in Tower Competition Against Western Kentucky

Tennessee's three male divers completed its final tune-up to the 2015 SEC Championships Saturday morning, claiming the top three spots against Western Kentucky at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville.

Four male divers in total competed in the six-round 10-meter platform event, with Mauricio Robles claiming the victory with a 360.90 score. Michael Howell claimed second place, while Liam Stone completed the sweep in third place. WKU's lone male diver, Zachary Batus, finished fourth with a final total of 246.75.

Rachel King of WKU competed as the lone female diver in the competition, finishing with a score of 163.05.

Robles bookended his victory with three scores in the 60-point range and a 76.80 on his final dive to break the 300-point mark. The win is Robles' first of the season in his second platform competition of the season, following a second-place result at the UT Diving Invitational in January.

"(The competition) was a little low-key and these guys tend to rise to the occasion," said Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington. "Give them a little more intensity and that whole situation is different. For the most part, I was pleased and just being in a competitive environment was very much needed. We'd like to see him hit all those dives, but that (score) is very competitive in SECs."

Howell's 271.80 score fell just shy of his career-high score of 272.45 set last February at the SEC preliminaries, but it did qualify as a new season-high. The native of Hixson, Tenn., strung together a consistent round of dives, all ranging around the 40s and 50-point marks.

"I was pleased in general," said Parrington. "Three of his last four dives were pretty good and one was very good. I wasn't pleased with the way he started the competition and we'll tinkle with the order. He bounced back, which is something he hasn't always shown the ability to do. He very much needed this competition."

Stone earned third place after a strong finish earned him a career-best score of 264.98. With Saturday being the first time he's competed on platform in several years, the New Zealand freshman concluded his morning with a round-high 67.50 on his final dive to cement the three-person sweep for the Vols.

"He hasn't trained in platform in five or so years, so this is a work in progress," said Parrington. "We've started to put some things together as best as we can for SECs. The only true platform dive he did in terms of being a very competitive dive was his last dive, which he did very well. He's a springboard diver, so anything that we get out of him at SECs is a bonus. Based on the score that he got, he would've scored at SECs last year."

In about a week and a half, Tennessee's diving team will join the swimmers in Auburn, Ala., for the 2015 SEC Championships, held at Auburn University. More information will be made available at UTsports.com 

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