PHILADELPHIA — October was rough for Drexel diver Anthony Musciano.

He started feeling neck pain in late September and a neck injury forced him to stop diving and lifting for about six weeks.

Since he wasn’t practicing, he rarely saw his teammates.

“I, literally, felt so left out,” said Musciano, who is gay. “I was so lonely and so bored, and I had nothing to do. It feels amazing that I’m back.”

Musciano returned to practicing in November and competed Jan. 5 for the first time this season. The first-year Drexel team captain has high hopes for the rest of his season now.

Drexel diver Anthony Musciano

A front 2 1/2 somersault pike on 1-meter springboard opened Musciano’s season, and he said the dive “felt particularly good.”

Musciano, a junior, posted a 1-meter springboard score of 194.9, which is his best score on 1-meter since the end of his freshman year.

“I felt great,” Musciano said. “I was honestly surprised at my score. It felt great to accomplish that on 1-meter.”

The 5-foot-9, 145-pound Musciano scored 248.1 points on 3-meter springboard in his season debut. He said 3-meter was rough because he hasn’t returned to practicing it as much. He was also the only male diver competing during the Jan. 5 meet.

Drexel diver Anthony Musciano competes during the 2016-17 season.

His strong scores at the meet earned Musciano the Colonial Athletic Association Male Diver of the Week award.

He followed up by finishing second on both 1-meter (276.9) and 3-meter springboard (290.48) during Saturday’s meet at Towson.

“Now that I’m back to normal, and I have a month and half-ish until championships, I don’t think there is anything in the way of my goals,” Musciano said. “There was at first, but not anymore.”

Drexel diver Anthony Musciano competes during the 2016-17 season.

Musciano’s main goals are to qualify for the NCAA postseason — which he did as a freshman but missed last year — along with winning a second consecutive CAA title on 1-meter springboard and a third consecutive CAA title on 3-meter.

As a team captain, he also wants to set a good example for his teammates. Of Drexel’s six male and female divers, Musciano is the only one who’s not a freshman.

“It feels weird that I’m the oldest,” the 21-year-old Musciano said. “I feel like yesterday I was a freshman and the youngest, but it’s fun being captain. And yeah, I’m the old man.”

And at his age, he hopes he can avoid more aches and pains this season.

Drexel diver Anthony Musciano can be reached at Instagram @ajmatl.

Names in bold are people that have announced publicly they identify as LGBTQ. Results are for competitions that took place Dec. 10-Jan. 13.

Division I

Jace Anderson (senior, Nebraska men’s track & field) and Dawson LaRance (sophomore, Minnesota men’s track & field) competed at Nebraska’s Graduate Classic on Friday and Saturday. Anderson finished fourth in triple jump (48 feet, 4 3/4 inches). LaRance competed in three events with his best finish third in the 1,000 meters (2 minutes, 26.24 seconds).

Matt Aronson (senior, Wisconsin men’s diving) finished fourth on 3-meter springboard with a season-best score of 319.3 points, and he took eighth on 1-meter springboard (236.0) during a meet at Hawaii on Jan. 4.

Joey Bonanno (senior, Ohio State men’s gymnastics) tied for sixth on floor (13.9) and tied for 10th on vault (14.3) in Saturday’s six-team Rocky Mountain Open at Air Force. Defending national champion Oklahoma won the team title with 411.15 points, and No. 6-ranked Ohio State finished fourth (398.5).

Lisa Coe (junior, Pittsburgh women’s diving) finished ninth on 1-meter (223.5) and 10th on 3-meter springboard (218.03) during a meet against West Virginia on Jan. 5.

Jacob Cornish (junior, Texas men’s diving) won the mixed synchronized 3-meter diving (263.7) with Texas teammate Meghan O’Brien at the USA Diving Winter National Championships, which took place Dec. 16-21. Also at the Winter Nationals, Cornish took second on men’s synchronized platform (688.26), 15th in individual platform (136.3) and 20th on individual 1-meter springboard (263.6).

Konrad Eiring (senior, Illinois men’s track & field) helped the 4×400-meter relay to a win and finished third in the 400 meters (51.3 seconds) during Saturday’s season-opening Illini Open.

Taylor Emery (senior, Virginia Tech women’s basketball) was part of the Hokies (13-3 overall) going 4-3 overall and 0-3 in the ACC the last four weeks. In the two most recent games, Emery had 27 points and seven rebounds in a 75-73 loss to No. 14-ranked Syracuse, and she had 26 points and five rebounds in a 62-58 loss at Virginia.

Aidan Faminoff (sophomore, Florida State men’s diving) won the 3-meter springboard (362.47) and finished fourth on 1-meter (268.05) during a home meet against Incarnate Word on Jan. 10. He followed that by finishing fourth on 1-meter (280.3) and fifth on 3-meter (289.2) during a meet at Alabama on Saturday. At the Winter Canadian National Championships on Dec. 15, Faminoff finished 10th on 10-meter platform (323.8)

Sam Fromkin (senior, American men’s swimming) competed in three events at Georgetown on Saturday with his best result fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.92).

Kyle Goodwin (senior, Missouri diving) took second in 1-meter springboard (364.8) and fourth on 3-meter (360.6) during the Georgia Invitational on Jan. 4-6. Goodwin won the 3-meter springboard (353.18) against Louisville on Jan. 10.

Abbie Hetherington (senior, Oklahoma State women’s track & field) and Matt Young (redshirt freshman, Arkansas men’s track & field) competed at Friday’s Arkansas Invitational to start the indoor season. Hetherington won the 800 meters (2:11.07). Young finished fourth in the mile (4:09.85).

Bree Horrocks (redshirt senior, Vanderbilt women’s basketball), Stephanie White (head coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) and Kelly Komara (assistant coach, Vanderbilt women’s basketball) went 1-7 the last four weeks at Vanderbilt (5-12 overall, 0-4 SEC). Vanderbilt beat Samford 77-52 on Dec. 28. Horrocks, who missed the season’s first 10 games due to blood clots, made her season debut with four points and two rebounds in a 66-57 loss to Central Michigan on Dec. 15.

Matt Kravitz (junior, Lehigh men’s track & field), Sam Layding (senior, Lehigh men’s track & field), Michael Mitchell (sophomore, Lehigh men’s track & field) and Susie Poore (sophomore, Lehigh women’s track & field) competed at Saturday’s Angry Birds Meet. Kravitz took fifth in the 800 meters (1:56.74). Layding finished second in the 3,000 meters (8:45.04) with Mitchell seventh in the 3,000 (8:49.24). Poore came in second in the 5,000 meters (18:10.83).

Justice Lord (senior, Barton men’s volleyball) recorded four kills and four blocks in a four-set loss to George Mason to open the season Jan. 5. Lord had a kill and two blocks in Friday’s three-set loss to No. 1-ranked Long Beach State.

Charlie Minns (junior, Princeton men’s diving) won the 3-meter springboard (375.45) and took sixth on 1-meter springboard (303.3) at Navy on Jan. 5.

Ryan Russi (redshirt senior, Wyoming men’s diving) earned Western Athletic Conference Diver of the Week on Jan. 8. Prior to the honor, he won on both 3-meter (294.8) and 1-meter springboard (290.4) during a meet Jan. 5 against Grand Canyon.

Emily Scheck (sophomore, Canisius women’s track & field) finish fourth in the 800 meters (2:41.09) at Saturday’s Tiger Invitational.

Antonio Woodard (redshirt junior, Iowa men’s track & field) finished fifth in the 60 meters (6.889 seconds) during Saturday’s Hawkeye Invitational.

Randy Lane (assistant coach, UCLA women’s gymnastics) saw the No. 1-ranked Bruins beat No. 11 Nebraska 197.25-195.7 in the season opener on Jan. 4. UCLA also won Saturday’s four-team Collegiate Challenge.

Jeremy Miranda (assistant coach, Florida women’s gymnastics) helped the Gators to a 197.3-196.45 win over No. 11 Missouri during Friday’s season-opening meet. Florida’s meet at LSU on Jan. 18 is scheduled to be broadcast on SEC Network at 9 p.m. ET, and Florida’s meet against Kentucky on Jan. 25 is scheduled to be on SEC Network at 5:45 p.m. ET.

Cale Robinson (assistant coach, Stanford women’s gymnastics) helped the Cardinal win the four-team NorCal Classic on Jan. 6 with 195.175 points. Stanford also won Friday’s three-team meet with 194.65.

Division II

Galen Dodd (assistant coach, Lewis men’s volleyball) saw the No. 9-ranked Flyers open the season 3-1 with wins against North Greenville, King and Mount Olive.

Division III

Kyle Davis (senior, Ithaca men’s track & field) finished third in the long jump (20 feet, 7 inches) and eighth in the 60 meters (7.56 seconds) during Saturday’s Utica Invitational.

Alec Donovan (redshirt junior, Centenary wrestling) won all three bouts at 165 pounds during the NWCA National Duals on Jan. 4. He recorded a pin in 2:23 and had decisions of 2-1 and 8-2.

Isaac Hanson (sophomore, Hamline men’s swimming) won the 100-yard butterfly (55.55 seconds) during Friday’s three-team meet.

NJCAA

Lexie Gerson (head coach, Harcum women’s basketball) led the Bears (10-5 overall) to a 2-2 record the last four weeks.

Layne Ingram (head coach, Lansing women’s basketball) led the Stars (4-11 overall) to a 2-6 record the last four weeks.

Erik Hall can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @HallErik or Facebook. If you are an out LGBTQ athlete or coach and want your accomplishments recognized, please email Erik.

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