Though we’re not DiveDove, we do dabble in diving coverage, and as diving can have a major impact on the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, we cover NCAA Zone Diving – mainly through the lens of how national diving qualifiers could impact the team points battles later this month.
2020 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 9 – Wednesday, March 13
- Zone C: Thursday, March 12 – Saturday, March 14
- Host schools, with live result links:
- Revisit our NCAA selection primer
Women:
The Texas women qualified a fifth diver for NCAAs in Janie Boyle, who was third on platform in the final day of the Zone D meet.
Texas already has Alison Gibson (1m/3m), Paola Pineda (1m/3m/Pl), Jordan Skilken (3m/Pl), and Morgan Menninger (1m/3m) into the meet. Unlike the Texas men, the women can bring all five divers without going over the NCAA roster limit.
Wisconsin is another program with a small-but-talented swimming roster who got a diving boost today. Tereza Vithoulkas won the platform event to earn an NCAA invite, her first. Runner-up Alyssa Clairmont of Texas A&M was another new qualifier, as were Missouri’s duo of Madison Huitt and Savana Trueb.
Men:
Jordan Windle wrapped up a sweep of all three boards at the Zone D Championships, setting up for perhaps a 50+ point showing at NCAAs. Windle returns as an A finalist on all three boards, and should be in the hunt for national titles on all three. Texas went 1-2 on platform today, with Jacob Cornish second. Freshman Andrew Harness was 7th for the third-straight day, and will contest all three boards at NCAAs.
Texas’s roster choice looks pretty easy now. Coach Eddie Reese already confirmed the team would take 16 swimmers and four divers. Windle, Cornish and Grayson Campbell are locks, and Harness outperformed Andrew Gawin-Parigini on all three boards. With last year’s NCAA qualifier Reed Merritt missing the invites in 18th today, Texas will likely take Harness to join the three returners. Windle, Cornish and Harness are the only three men in Zone D to qualify for NCAAs on all three boards.
There weren’t many new qualifiers today for the men. Iowa’s Mohamed Noaman was 5th to join the invite list. And Missouri freshman Carlos Lopez earned an invite today.
Current Qualifiers
SIMPLIFIED INVITE PROCEDURES
You can read a more in-depth look at the selection process here. Effectively, each Zone earns a specific number of qualifying spots in each event, based on how that Zone performed at NCAAs last year. Divers who place inside the qualifying places earn an NCAA invite. A diver invited in one event can compete at NCAAs in any other diving event where they were top 12 in their Zone meet. The highest-placing divers earn NCAA reimbursement, while lower-placing qualifiers can compete at NCAAs, but their school must pay for their travel and lodging at the meet.
Texas has the same amount of divers as swimmers going to NCAA