By Kyle Arensdorf | @KyKernelSports

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UK junior diver Greg Ferrucci took fourth-place in all three diving events and captured a 22nd-place finish for UK at the 2013 men’s Swimming and Diving NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.

“I feel great about (my performance),” Ferrucci said. “Taking all things into consideration, hurting my thumb and the fact that I hadn’t been training in (platform), I was extremely happy with the overall outcome.”

Ferrucci scored a 403.05 in his first NCAA finals appearance on Thursday to grab an NCAA career-high fourth-place finish on the 1-meter springboard.

“Greg had a lot of juice in his first NCAA final,” UK head coach Ted Hautau said to UK Athletics. “He was really moving on his first two dives and over-rotated both a bit. He made a great run back from last to fourth and showed great competitive and mental toughness.”

On Friday, Ferrucci took fourth-place for the second day in a row in his best event, the 3-meter springboard.

He posted a 423.15 in the finals, improving on his preliminary score of 418.25 as he came 2.35 points shy of medaling in the event.

On the third and final day of competition, Ferrucci scored a 391.2 in the platform preliminaries to just sneak into the top-8 and compete in the finals.

A team-record 418.3 in the finals saw him place in fourth once again to cap-off his best NCAA showing.

Junior John Fox made his NCAA debut as the only other UK athlete to qualify for the tournament.

After qualifying at the Zone C Championships in the 3-meter springboard, Fox earned top-25 finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

“I was very pleased with John Fox’s performance,” Hautau said to UK Athletics. “He was steady and consistent and handled himself well.”

In his third NCAA appearance, Ferrucci garnered 15 points for each of his fourth-place finishes and led UK to a 22nd-place finish.

After tearing a ligament in his thumb late in the regular season, Ferrucci’s chances of competing in the postseason were jeopardized, but after a month layoff he returned ready to perform.

Ferrucci spoke about what it was like to have a thumb injury so close to postseason training and how his teammates affected his recovery.

“It was really frustrating,” Ferrucci said. “You can’t really do much in this sport when you can’t go in head first, so practice was a little unproductive. But my teammates make practice fun and they helped me get through my injury.”

The NCAA Championships was the final piece of the Cats’ 2012-13 season.

After the tournament, Hautau put the season in perspective and compared it to the other seasons he’s coached.

“This is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Hautau said. “In my experience, in the twenty-something years I’ve been coaching college, this is the best culture I’ve ever had as a coach and the best group of players. I’ll credit that all to God and prayer.”