A 30-year layoff merely whetted Bob Christiansen's appetite for diving.

The Tennessee Vol of the mid-1970s never won an SEC or NCAA championship, but last year he dominated 1-meter and 3-meter springboard diving at the Spring Masters National Championships in Miami.

Christiansen, 54, who lives in Maryville, plans to defend those titles at UT's Allen Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. Competition begins Saturday and ends Monday.

The Pilot Aquatic Club of Knoxville-sponsored 20th annual Volunteer Invitational longcourse meet for age-group swimmers runs Thursday through Sunday.

Christiansen is coached by another former Vol diver, Brian Pritt, who is close to 20 years younger than Christiansen.

The thrill of midair acrobatics hasn't diminished for the Savannah, Ga., native.

Christiansen's 30-year layoff began shortly after his diving at UT ended in 1975. It wasn't his only break in diving. His first came during his freshman season at UT in 1972. Christiansen was attempting a new dive - a reverse 1 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists. His body smacked the water, causing his spleen to rupture. He was out of the water for about nine months, and doctors recommended that he cease diving.

Fat chance of that.

Christiansen, who was overshadowed as a Vol by teammate Jim Kennedy - an SEC and NCAA champion, returned to the boards and was a part of coach Ray Bussard's SEC championship teams of 1974-75.

Diving boards and platforms have produced a number of injuries that forced Christiansen to take time off. After returning from the ruptured spleen, he suffered a shoulder injury in 1974 while practicing on the 10-meter tower.

After winning last year's masters titles, Christiansen was practicing in his parents' backyard pool where his mother was his coach through high school. He suffered a torn quadriceps that required surgery last September. He was back on the boards about six weeks ago.

During Christiansen's senior season at UT he talked about the dive that caused him so much pain.

"It's ironic," he said. "That dive is my best dive now. Yeah, I had a tremendous fear of trying the twister dives again. It was about six months before I could get up the courage."

Will the reverse 1 1/2, 2 1/2 twister be on the list of dives he performs this weekend?

"Not yet," he said. "I'll do a 1 1/2 gainer with 1 1/2 twist. I'm not quite as flexible and strong as I was while diving for UT."

Christiansen was a 170-pounder as a Vol. He weighs 177, but hopes to be at 175 for the Masters competition.

"I have almost the same weight," he said. "It's just distributed differently."

Christiansen, his wife Cindy and two daughters moved back to East Tennessee in 2001. He is a managed health care executive for Abbott Laboratories.

Christiansen has enjoyed his return to diving so much that he encouraged UT teammate Joe Crump, who lives in Oak Ridge, to come out of diving retirement. They usually practice for two hours three times a week. Crump began workouts a few months ago and hopes to challenge Christiansen for a title or two.

"Joe is where I was last year," Christiansen said " I think he'll do well. He's doing some of his dives as well or even better than he did in college."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.