NCAA Men’s Championships: Luke Sitz Makes History for SMU with 1-Meter Crown
SMU’s Luke Sitz scored 428.10 points Saturday to win 1-meter diving gold at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.
Sitz was second after prelims but scored 428.10 in finals. That was nearly 16 points better than Miami freshman Matteo Santoro to get the victory. He was one of only three divers to top 400 points in finals and one of only four to do it at any point on the day.
“This is a lifetime goal of mine,” Sitz said. “It’s really special to knock this goal off my bucket list, and just hoping do it again tomorrow with 3-meter. It’s just surreal to me right now.”
Sitz is the first Mustang men’s athlete to win an NCAA title at the swimming and diving championships since swimmer Lars Frolander in 1998. He’s the first diver to win a crown since Scott Donie won 3-meter and platform in 1990 and the first SMU diver ever to win 1-meter.
He’s the first SMU athlete in any sport to win an NCAA title since a golfer named Bryson DeChambeau in 2015.
“I was kind of just hoping to do my thing,” Sitz said. “Coming off of prelims in second place, I was feeling pretty confident, but I knew I had a job to do, so just trying to keep a level head and do the best I can.”
Santoro scored 412.50. Two freshman scored in the top four, with Florida rookie Jesus Agundez fourth with a score of 395.30. Third was Tennessee sophomore Bennett Greene at 400.90. Eight of the top 12 spots belonged to freshmen or sophomores.
Moritz Wesemann of USC, the leader after prelims with 406.85 points, slid in finals, finishing fifth with a tally of 390.60. Weseman had been the bronze medalist last year and the top returning finisher.
Sitz improved from seventh place last year. Greene was 13th.
Florida was the big winner in the team competition, with Agundez fourth and Conor Gesing sixth. Texas scored a solitary point in 16th place with Jacob Jones, but they were dealt a blow when Nick Harris withdrew early in prelims. Harris was 10th last year and ninth in 2024. Cal didn’t score, neither did top-three hopeful Indiana, which has recently dominated springboard, with Joshua Sollenberger 17th.
Utah’s Elias Petersen medaled for a second straight year in seventh at 354.80. He was fourth last year. Max Fowler got a medal on his home boards at Georgia Tech in eighth. He was sixth last year and had been third at the end of prelims.
Event 8 Men 1 mtr Diving
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Meet: M 473.75 3/28/2013 Kristian Ipsen, Stanford
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Sitz, Luke SO SMU 379.65 428.10 20
2 Santoro, Matteo FR Miami (FL) 344.70 412.50 17
3 Greene, Bennett SO Tennessee 370.20 400.90 16
4 Agundez, Jesus FR Florida 358.95 395.30 15
5 Wesemann, Moritz SR USC 406.85 390.60 14
6 Gesing, Conor JR Florida 348.25 381.20 13
7 Petersen, Elias SR Utah 352.90 354.80 12
8 Fowler, Max JR GT 370.40 350.20 11
=== Preliminaries ===
9 Grubbs, Gunnar FR Stanford 343.00 9
10 Welsh, Zachary SO Purdue 342.20 7
11 Ciprick, Thomas SO Tennessee 340.60 6
12 Passmore, Jake SO Miami (FL) 334.15 5
13 Winn IV, Raymond JR Louisville 328.55 4
14 Swart, Ethan SO Auburn 328.30 3
15 Dubois, Gage SR Arizona 327.80 2
16 Jones, Jacob SO Texas 327.25 1
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