Mitchell Captures Two Titles at USA Masters Event
8/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Returning to the Rutgers Aquatic Center where he previously re-set his own school records from both the one and three-meter boards, rising senior and reigning BIG EAST Most Outstanding Male Diver Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) recently added titles from each board to his collection with a standout performance at the 2014 Masters Diving Summer Championships.
Part of the USA Masters circuit, the Summer Championships were hosted by Rutgers over a four-day period. Entered in the 21-24 age group, Mitchell emerged as the class of his competition, posting a 10-dive score that was more than 70 points clear of the runner-up from both one and three meters.
From the one-meter board, the 2013-14 Seton Hall Co-Junior Male Athlete of the Year registered a final mark of 413.10 to finish in excess of 76 points ahead of his next closest competitor. Mitchell repeated the dominant showing when the stage was elevated to three meters, recording 473.90 points over 10 dives - even scoring a perfect "10" on a back dive pike.
His three-meter effort out-paced that of runner-up Michael Card by a margin of 77.25 points (396.65).
Coming off a season in which he and teammate and fellow All-BIG EAST honoree Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) combined for a historic sweep at the BIG EAST Championships - giving The Hall its first-ever conference titles from the diving board - Mitchell has spent the summer as a transplant in Virginia in order to further hone his craft.
An experience he earlier helped chronicle for SHUPirates.com as part of the Pirate Postcard series, Mitchell credited his time in South Orange and Virginia with providing the base necessary to excel at the national level.
"It was a rewarding experience to be able to come out on top at the national level using the knowledge I learned in Virginia and my past seasons at Seton Hall," said Mitchell who was also named the top Seton Hall male student-athlete in his class as a sophomore. "While I was there I met a handful of great divers and was able to talk to the Greek Olympic coach who competed for Greece in Beijing Olympics in 2008. After hearing advice from him, I know what I need to continue to improve on for the next season and I'm excited to get back to work."
With a pair of school record and conference championships already to his credit, Mitchell will set his sights on becoming just the second member of the men's swimming and diving program to repeat as BIG EAST Champion in the same event [Kevin Webster, 200-backstroke 2010-11] while also aiming to make a third-consecutive trip to the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships.
