2024 Zone D Diving: Texas Qualifies Six Men, Four Women For NCAAs

2024 NCAA ZONE D CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 11-13, 2024
• Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium – Houston, Texas
• Results
• Qualifying Process

The final piece of the NCAA Championship qualification puzzle is the Zone Diving Championships, which are running from five sites this week across the country.

• Zone A Results
• Zone B Results
• Zone C Results
• Zone D Results
• Zone E Results

The Zone D Championships wrapped up on Wednesday from the University of Houston’s Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium DeNunzio Pool, finalizing the divers who have punched their ticket to the NCAA Championships later this month.

Of course, teams near or at the roster limit can scratch divers if they choose to, though that only applies to a few select teams. In the vast majority of cases, qualifying at their respective Zone competition locks in a diver’s NCAA spot.

Note that divers only count as a half a participant in terms of the 18-participant roster cap.

Simplified Qualifying Process:

• The top five female and top four male divers from each event at their respective zone championship automatically qualify for NCAAs.
• Each zone then earns an additional number of qualifying spots in each event based on how it performed at last season’s NCAAs.
• Divers who qualify in one event can also compete in other event(s) at NCAAs provided they finished in the top 12 at their respective Zone meet.

Zone D had the most qualifying spots up for grabs across all Zones, which is a direct result of the performance of the divers Zone D had to offer at the 2023 NCAA Championships (some of them have graduated). A total of 55 qualifying spots were on the line in Zone D, one more than Zone C.

ZONE D ALLOCATIONS

WOMEN’S ZONE D RECAP

U.S. Olympian and University of Texas junior Hailey Hernandez kicked off the competition by winning the women’s 1-meter event, going 1-2 with teammate Bridget O’Neil on Monday. They followed up by qualifying in the 3-meter event, with O’Neil having a second consecutive runner-up finish and Hernandez placing 7th.

Last season, Hernandez placed 4th on 1-meter at NCAAs and O’Neil was 11th, and on 3-meter, Hernandez took 9th as the duo scored a combined 30 points for the Longhorns.

Minnesota sophomore Viviana Del Angel, who scored in two events as a freshman, won the 3-meter event over O’Neil and the LSU duo of Montserrat Lavenant and Helle Tuxen, and it was Del Angel and Lavenant emerging as the only divers to qualify in all three events for NCAAs.

On platform, Texas’ Jordan Skilken (628.70) won a tight battle with Lavenant (627.20) and Del Angel (626.20), and the Longhorns got a fourth qualifier from the event with Sarah Carruthers placing 4th.

Last season, Lavenant and Del Angel placed 2nd and 3rd at NCAAs, while Skilken was 6th.

The Texas women qualified 15 swimmers for NCAAs, so they’ll be able to bring all four of their divers because they only count as half a participant towards the 18-athlete roster cap.

Women’s Zone D Qualifiers – By Event

Women’s Zone D Qualifiers – Full List

*Events in which the diver didn’t finish in a designated spot but qualified by virtue of a top-12 finish.

MEN’S ZONE D RECAP

The men’s side saw Texas qualify six divers, five of which can compete in at least two events at NCAAs.

On the opening day, LSU’s Carson Paul booked the win on 3-meter over Minnesota freshman YuTong Wang, but it was all Texas behind them, with Tanner Braunton, Noah Duperre, Nicholas Harris, Manuel Borowski and Brendan McCourt placing 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th to give the Longhorns five qualifiers right off the bat. Texas A&M also got two men on the board with Allen Bottego and Victor Povzner.

Last season, Duperre, Harris, Povzner and McCourt all scored in the event at NCAAs.

On Day 2, Harris won the 1-meter event over Povzner and Duperre, while Wang wasn’t too far off in 4th.

The 2023 NCAAs saw Povzner, Harris and Bottego (who was 9th) all earn First Team All-American status in the event by finishing 6th through 8th. Duperre and McCourt also scored.

On platform, it was Minnesota’s Drew Bennett leading a group of six new qualifiers on the final day, as LSU’s Paul was the only diver who had already punched his ticket to finish in an allocated spot.

Texas added a sixth diver to its roster with freshman Pierce Brooke placing 5th on platform.

Paul, Texas’ Duperre and Braunton, and Texas A&M’s Takuto Endo and Mizzou’s Collier Dyer all qualified to compete in all three diving events at NCAAs.

Qualifying a large number of divers would lead Texas to a roster decision in previous years, but in 2024, the Longhorn men only qualified seven swimmers for NCAAs, so bringing all six divers will not be an issue.

Men’s Zone D Qualifiers – By Event

Men’s Zone D Qualifiers – Full List

*Events in which the diver didn’t finish in a designated spot but qualified by virtue of a top-12 finish.