A Double-Double for Tiger Divers

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Mar 18, 2007) - Occidental's diving twins, Jonathan & Robert Dohring '08, pulled off a unique double-double at the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming & Diving Championships March 15-17 in Houston, Texas, finishing first and second in both the one-meter and three-meter events.

Jon is Occidental's first national champion since 1978, the first ever to win two individual titles at the same championship. He earned Diver of the Year honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America; Roland King was named CSCAA Diving Coach of the Year.

The Tigers finished 13th in the overall team standings with 81 points.

Saturday's three-meter competition followed virtually the same script as the one-meter event. Robert Dohring held a sizable 32-point advantage after prelims but Jon nailed one difficult dive after another in the finals to win the title by six points, 531-525. On Thursday, Jon claimed the one-meter title in his last attempt, a back 1 ½ somersault with a 1 ½ twist, edging his brother by less than four points.

"It's not the first time that teammates have gone 1-2 in diving at the Division III championships," says veteran head coach Peggy Carl. "But it is the first time two teammates have gone 1-2 on both boards. The fact that it came from twin brothers makes it even more remarkable."

Jon also is Occidental's first national champion in diving since 1942, when Sammy Lee '43 -- who later went on to win gold medals at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics -- won the 3-meter and 10-meter championships at the National AAU swim meet.  Most recently, the Tigers won national championships in the 100 freestyle (Kevin Johnson) and 400 free relay (Mark Lang, Ben Bambauer, Richard Ringer, and Johnson) in 1978, completing a run of seven individual and relay titles in two seasons.

Earlier this season, Jon edged Robert by half a point at the SCIAC championships Feb. 15-17 in Cerritos, Calif. and won the three-meter competition by 1 ½ points over Mark Emanuel of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Robert placed fourth on the 1m and third on the 3m last year at Nationals.

On Friday, two-time All-American Dickson Fai '08 earned an Honorable Mention with a 10th place 51.87 in the 100 backstroke. Fai finished 17th (1:54.32) in the 200 backstroke on Saturday, missing the championship final by about a half second.