SCSU’s Buehler ready for another crack at D-II championships
NEW HAVEN — Tim Quill, Southern Connecticut State men’s swim coach the past 20 seasons, admits he isn’t an expert when it comes to diving and it’s why he has Stephen Etienne as his diving coach.
But Quill has been around long enough to know a good diver when he sees one.
“I have learned over the years there are two kind of divers,“Quill said. “There are power divers and finesse divers. When you have both styles working for you, you are very successful. Andrew Buehler has both.”
Buehler, a former standout for Sheehan where he won two Class S titles and one M, has been on a roll at Southern and will have a second chance on the national level.
The junior is one of 27 divers recently selected to compete at the NCAA Division II Diving Championships on March 9-12 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C. He will compete in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
There were no NCAA swim and diving events in 2021 due to COVID-19 and the virus also made an impact when Buehler was a freshman in 2020. He was selected for the 2020 NCAA Division II Diving Championships and advanced to the finals after placing ninth in the preliminary round. But due to COVID-19 the 2020 finals were canceled.
“I’m excited, very excited for another opportunity to go to the NCAA championships,” Buehler said. “After the finals were canceled in 2020 I finally have a chance to have my first complete season going from the regular season to the NE-10 Championships and now the NCAAs.“
For the second straight season Buehler won the 1-meter and 3-meter Northeast-10 Conference Diving Championships and for the second straight season was named the NE-10 Most Outstanding Diver. Buehler is the third student-athlete in NE-10 history to win the award in back-to-back years. This season, Buehler had a score of 502.45 on the 1-meter dive and 509.70 on the 3-meter.
Buehler credits a combination of items that have contributed to his college success. Maturity is one as is the ability to balance classwork and workouts. Another factor has been the help of Etienne who was a diver at Ohio State.
“Stephen Etienne has been a big factor in helping me improve and develop,” Buehler said. “He has a very keen eye for technique and correcting me and fixing things to make me better. We have been focused on four different dives during training.”
Etienne expected Buehler to get back to the NCAA DIvision II Diving Championships.
“I expected him to get back there because he is very talented,” Etienne said. “While it is good to do well at the Northeast-10 Championships, the ultimate goal is the NCAA Division II Diving Championships. One of his strengths is his entries are great. Another strength is he is very graceful and makes things look easy when he dives.
“It took a lot of hard work for Andrew to get where he is, but hard work is what makes people better. There is always room for improvement. But he is as prepared as he can be for this moment. I think he can finish top three or five. But in diving anything can happen and I wouldn’t count him out when it comes to winning.”
Hard work was needed when it came to overcoming the impact of COVID-19.
“When COVID-19 shut everything down I couldn’t practice at Southern and couldn’t find any place to train,” Buehler said. “There were about five months of no training. When I could start training again, I had to work a lot harder just to get back to where I was.
“And then I had to work even harder to get better and improve. I’m feeling good now and competing at a high level with my diving.”
Quill is happy to see Buehler get another chance at competing at the NCAA Division II Diving Championships.
“Andrew is very talented and he is a lot better now than he was two years ago,” Quill said. “He makes all his dives look easy and clean.”
Buehler is feeling good about his chances at the NCAA Division II Diving Championships, but has a realistic approach as well.
“I’m prepared and I’m feeling good about this,” Buehler said. “I’ll be competing against some very talented divers and I’m hoping to finish in the top 10. But you never know how it will go until you compete. Maybe I’ll finish top eight, maybe top six.”