ND Swimming and Diving: Maggio a star in the pool and the classroom
By: LISA REIJULA
Sports Writer
UNIONDALE, N.Y.
The average spectator at a collegiate swim meet might find it easy to overlook the divers. They compete in only two events, the 1-meter and the 3-meter contests, which usually take place when the crowd is taking a break from the swimming action.
However, Notre Dame's roster boasts a diver who deserves attention for his accomplishments in both athletics and academics.
Senior co-captain Andy Maggio has established himself as a consistent performer for the Irish. This season, Maggio finished in the top three in the majority of dual meets in the one-meter event. He also excels in the classroom, owning a 3.7 grade point average.
"He's the complete Notre Dame student-athlete," Notre Dame coach Tim Welsh said. "He's been one of the elite divers here in the conference and been to the NCAA zone meet. He's a very strong student, a very strong diver, a very strong leader and a really good person."
Maggio began diving when he was eight at his summer club in Cincinnati. When he was 12, he began training nationally.
"One of the coaches there [in Cincinnati] is one of the top national coaches and things just took off from there," he said.
Notre Dame has been a good fit for Maggio, who entered in the fall of 1999. A finance and government double major, he will be trading stocks for Morgan Stanley in New York after graduation.
"Notre Dame is one of the best academic schools in the country and also one of the best athletically, so it's a good balance," Maggio said. "Also, my diving coach Caiming Xie is one of the best diving coaches in the world. He was the Chinese national coach for a long time."
Thursday evening at the Big East Championships at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in Uniondale, N.Y., Maggio finished fourth in the 1-meter diving event with 283.20 points.
"I'm a senior so it's my fourth time around," he said. "I'm happy with my performance, I was aggressive. I'm happy with the way things turned out."
In addition to his diving talent, Welsh considers Maggio an asset to the team due to his leadership and ability to overcome adversity in the form of injury.
"Last year he dove great, then had some knee trouble," Welsh said. "He missed some time this fall but he's back here and he's done an outstanding job."
Maggio has suffered from knee problems for the last two-and-a-half years.
"It's made it tough to have any kind of sustained good, healthy training," he said. "But I was never out for any specific amount of time."
As a senior, co-captain and as a diver, Maggio has a special and important role on the team this season. Welsh is aware of his significance to the group.
"He's also done a wonderful job bridging the swimming-diving gap," Welsh said.
Maggio credits his fellow senior divers, Joe Miller and Tong Xie, with helping him integrate the team.
"Obviously there is kind of an inherent separation between the two sports, but it's really important that we're all part of the same team," he said. "Throughout our four years, we've all tried to think of what we do as more of a team sport rather than an individual one. I think it's been more of effort by our entire class of divers to try to bridge that gap."
Maggio will continue his weekend at the Big East Championships today, when he is slated to compete in the 3-meter springboard.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 21, 2003
