• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Buffalo State Freshman Gets on Board

Posted on: Saturday, 12 February 2005, 09:00 CST

By the numbers, Nicole Rutkowski has had an amazing freshman year.

She broke 15-year-old Buffalo State diving records in the 1- meter and 3-meter while setting the State University of New York Athletic Conference record in the 1-meter.

If all goes well this week in the Flickinger Aquatic Center, she will likely become the first diving champion for the Bengals since the conference added women's swimming and diving in the 1983-84 season.

Rutkowski's success has been anything but easy.

The Williamsville North graduate battled a bit of homesickness. Yes, she's only on campus at Buffalo State, but her parents moved to Florida after her father retired.

"It was a ride for me," Rutkowski said of her transition to collegiate diving. "Having my parents gone and realizing how much I missed them made me a little homesick.

"When my (back and shoulder) injuries started bothering me, I kept thinking whether I wanted to stick with it. I had a little bit of trouble mentally and physically at the beginning of the season. If it wasn't for the support of the swim team and the other divers and the coaches, I don't think I'd still be here."

Rutkowski did more than just stick with it -- she excelled.

She broke the 1990 school records set by Michelle Gustafson on both boards. Her 1-meter record is 275.50 (six dives) while her 3- meter record of 255.20 came after spending more than two years away from the higher board.

"In the beginning, because I hadn't been on the boards (since high school season), I was just getting back in the swing of things," Rutkowski said. "I've learned a lot of new dives as the season went on, and I've gotten a lot stronger. . . . Getting back on 3-meter again, that was a trip. That was interesting. It is kind of like riding a bike once you get your voluntaries, which are the easier dives. Once you start getting those out there, everything else becomes easier. You just have to work the board and get used to it again, having that extra amount of time from 1-meter. I actually like 3-meter a lot better than 1-meter now."

Rutkowski enters this week's SUNYAC Championships ranked first in the conference on both boards.

Though there are no automatic qualifiers into the NCAA Division III championships, she has posted provisional qualifying scores. If she makes the field, she'll be the first Buffalo State women's diver to compete in the national meet since Judy Elliott earned All- American status in 1981.

"We were fortunate enough to get her," Buffalo State coach Mike Switalski said. "As a top-10 diver in the state in high school, she could have easily taken the money and gone somewhere else.

"In the beginning there was an adjustment that the rest of our squad had to make in terms of her talent level versus the rest of the squad. National-level talent is the next step that we're trying to take the program to, and I think our group, because of Nicole, realizes what possibilities are there now. They can reach the next level with this program."

The SUNYAC Championships begin at noon today with the women's 3- meter and men's 1-meter preliminaries.

The finals in those events are at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

The women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter preliminaries are at 12:30 p.m. Friday with the finals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Swimming events run Thursday through Saturday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. All-session passes are $20.

Individual sessions are $4 for the general public and $2 for students.

Around campus

* The University at Buffalo wants to create a "Sea of Blue" when its men's basketball team hosts Ball State in a nationally televised game at noon Saturday in Alumni Arena. Fans are encouraged to paint their faces, wear UB blue and create signs for the game on ESPN2. The first 1,000 fans will receive blue and white pompoms while the first 1,000 students will receive a Bulls foam finger.

* St. Bonaventure sophomore tennis player Andrew Hart was named the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week. Hart went undefeated in both singles and doubles play over two matches last weekend as the Bonnies lost to Xavier but came back to defeat Niagara. He is the second Bona player in as many weeks to be honored by the A-10 after senior Mario Arce earned the honor last week.

e-mail: amoritz@buffnews.com

Source: Buffalo News

More News in this Category