ITHACA, N.Y. – Christian Torres has been named the third Richard W. Gilbert Diving Coach at Cornell University. Torres most recently served for two seasons as head diving coach at Canisius.

Torres made an immediate impact at Canisius, qualifying divers in the finals at the NCAA Zone A meet in both 2015 and 2016, a first in program history.
 
In his second season as coach, Torres helped Travis Wright become the MAAC Diver of the Year and Canisius Athlete of the Year as a sophomore after he placed in both the one and three-meter diving events at Zones.  He won both the one-meter and three-meter diving events at the 2016 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships.

In Torres' first season, four Canisius divers scored points during finals at the conference championship meet. Eddie Quarantillo was named the Outstanding Male Diver of the Meet at the MAAC championship after winning finals in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter events. Quarantillo went on to dive at the NCAA zone meet, advancing to the finals on the 3-meter and tower. He became the first Canisius male diver to make finals at the event.

Torres spent six years as the head diving coach and president of the Buffalo Blizzards Diving Club, working with divers aged 6 to 26. He initiated and promoted the club and was in charge of all business operations in addition to developing training and competition plans for the program's athletes.

Prior to his time at Canisius, Torres spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant diving coach at his alma mater, Fredonia. He mentored league champions on both the men's and women's sides on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions, as well as the Diver of the Meet at both championships. Torres worked with NCAA Division III All-Americans on both the men's and women's teams during his tenure.

As a student-athlete at Fredonia, Torres was a 2010 NCAA Division III All-American and won the conference's 1-meter championship. Since graduating, he has captured a pair of bronze medals at the 2014 FINA World Master's Championships in Montreal.

A 2010 graduate of Fredonia with a degree in business administration and management and a minor in Spanish, he is working toward his master's in sports administration at Canisius.