With four of the five zone championships finished, we are starting to see the NCAA Championship meets come together. The teams that will benefit the most from their performances at the Zone Championships are Virginia Tech and Minnesota.
Both VT and Minnesota qualified four women’s divers and four men’s divers for the NCAA Championships. In the points race, however, they will have to score very well at the NCAA Championships to catch the top five teams, and even if that does happen, it will still be a stretch. USC is the top team on paper after scoring out the psych sheet without diving. Four divers for USC will really help them as they try to hold off the Texas Longhorns. Texas is coming into the meet in second by only three points. Last year, diving was a big part of their team score that lead them to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships. Even though they do not have their MVP diver, Michael Hixon, this year, they do have 3 strong divers that will challenge the divers from USC. Hixon will be diving for Indiana tomorrow after transferring following his freshman season.
For the women, Georgia will have to decide whether to take diver Olivia Ball and leave behind their 18th swimmer, or if they are going to leave Ball at home. Roster limits prevent the Bulldogs from bringing all 18 swimmers and their diver. If Ball does dive in the meet, which we expect that she will, than she will be crucial if they want to catch Cal Berkeley. Cal also qualified one of their divers, so she will be able to go head to head with Ball.
California has a significant lead on paper coming into the meet, with 505 points. Georgia is second with 368 projected points. When it comes down to the weekend of the meet, however, anything can happen.
At the very bottom of the page there is a full list of invited divers, separated by their Zone, and then again by their team. The only Zone that has not competed yet is Zone C. Their meet begins tomorrow and will continue through Saturday.
For a refresher on NCAA Diving Qualifying procedures, click here.
Below are the invites from the third day of the 2015 Zone Diving Championships:
Zone A
Women’s Platform (7 Invites)
- Kelli Stockton – Virginia Tech
- Jing Leung – Harvard
- Emma Villarreal – Virginia Tech
- Rebecca Corbett – Virginia
- Caitlin Chambers – Princeton
- Kaylea Arnett- Virginia Tech
- Addison Walkowiak – Rutgers
Men’s Platform (7 Invites)
- Dominic Giordano – Pittsburgh
- Logan Stevens – Virginia Tech
- Thomas Shinholser – Virginia Tech
- Jayden Pantel – Columbia
- Kyle Butts – Virginia Tech
- Anthony Galante – Pittsburgh
- Mauro Silva – Virginia Tech
Zone B
Women’s Platform (8 Invites)
- Katrina Young – Florida St
- Elissa Dawson – UNC
- Kahlia Warner – Florida
- Cheyenne Cousineau – Miami
- Michole Timm – UNC
- Wallace Layland – Miami
- Cinzia Calabretta – Auburn
- Carly Scheper – Auburn
Men’s Platform (8 Invites)
- Mauricio Robles Rodriguez – Tennessee
- Dylan Drisell – Florida St
- Fraser McKean – Auburn
- Bradley Hozma – Georgia Tech
- Cole Miller – South Carolina
- Tyler Roberge – Florida State
- Ryan Fox – UNC
- Zach Hernandez – Florida
Zone C
Begins Thursday, March 12th.
Zone D
Women’s Platform (9 Invites)
- Yu Zhou – Minnesota
- Samantha Bromberg – Texas
- Madison Sthamann – LSU
- Taylor Olanski – Houston
- Emma Ivory-Ganja – Texas
- Lexi Tenenbaum – Minnesota
- Calli Head – Iowa
- Katy Etterman – Minnesota
- Alexandra Bettridge – LSU
Men’s Platform (7 Invites)
- Mark Anderson – Texas
- Addison Boschult – Iowa
- Devin Burnett – SMU
- Daniel Helm – LSU
- Manny Pollard – Minnesota
- Tyler Henschel – Texas A&M
- Erik Larsen – Minnesota
Zone E
Women’s Platform (9 Invites)
- Haley Ishimatsu – USC
- Mara Aiacoboae – Arizona State
- Krysta Palmer – Nevada
- Annika Lenz – UCLA
- Samantha Adams – USC
- Lillian Hinrichs – Stanford
- Jasemine Matkovic – Utah
- Eleanor Smart – California
- Karolyn Loftus – Arizona
Men’s Platform (8 Invites)
- Rafael Quintero – Arizona
- Amund Gismervik – Hawaii
- Kristian Ipsen – Stanford
- Dominic Ricotta – Arizona
- Collin Pollard – USC
- Hunter Atha – Arizona State
- Finn Scribbick – California
- Deon Reid – USC
Diving Invites By Zone and Team
Zone A
Pittsburgh
- Dominic Giordano (M)
- Anthony Galante (M)
Virginia
- Jakob Kolod (M)
- Rebecca Corbett (W)
Virginia Tech
- Thomas Shinholser (M)
- Kelli Stockton (W)
- Ashley Butcher (W)
- Kaylea Arnett (W)
- Mauro Silva (M)
- Kyle Butts (M)
- Logan Stevens (M)
- Emma Villarreal (W)
Harvard
- Michael Mosca (M)
- Jing Leung (W)
Connecticut
- Taryn Urbanus (W)
Old Dominion
- Rachel Eckert (W)
Princeton
- Caitlin Chambers (W)
Rutgers
- Addison Walkowiak
Columbia
- Jayden Pantel (M)
Zone B
Miami
- Samuel Dorman (M)
- Briadam Herrera (M)
- Thea Vock (W)
- Cheyenne Cosineau (W)
- Wallace Layland (W)
Tennessee
- Mauricio Robles Rodriguez (M)
- Liam Stone (M)
UNC
- Jack Nyquist (M)
- Elissa Dawon (W)
- Michole Timm (W)
- Ryan Fox (M)
Auburn
- Fraser McKean (M)
- Justin Youtsey (M)
- Cinzia Calabretta – (W)
- Carly Scheper – Auburn (W)
South Carolina
- Jordan Gotro (M)
- Cole Miller (M)
- Julia Vincent (W)
- Patti Kranz (W)
Georgia
- Olivia Ball (W)
Florida
- Kahlia Warner (W)
- Zach Hernandez (M)
Florida St
- Katrina Young (W)
- Dylan Grisell (M)
- Tyler Roberge (M)
NC State
- Rachel Mumma (W)
Georgia Tech
- Shannon Lumbra (W)
- Fraser Hozma (M)
Zone C
Begins Thursday, March 12th.
Zone D
Texas
- Cory Bowersox (M)
- Will Chandler (M)
- Mark Anderson (M)
- Samantha Bromberg (W)
- Meghan Houston (W)
- Emma Ivory-Ganja (W)
LSU
- Daniel Helm (M)
- Cassie Well (W)
- Alexandra Bettridge (W)
- Madison Sthamann (W)
Missouri
- Clark Thomas (M)
- Lauren Reedy (W)
Nebraska
- Anna Filipcic (W)
Minnesota (W)
- Manny Pollard (M)
- Lexi Tenenbaum (W)
- Yu Zhou (W)
- Katy Etterman (W)
- Matt Barnard (M)
- Dylan Zoe (M)
- Jessica Ramberg (W)
- Erik Larsen (M)
Texas A&M
- Madison Hudkins (W)
- Tyler Henschel (M)
SMU
- Devin Burnett (M)
Missouri St
- Garrett Nevels (M)
Iowa
- Joelle Christy (W)
- Calli Head (W)
- Addison Boschult (M)
Houston
- Taylor Olanski
Zone E
Arizona St
- Hailer Casper (W)
- Mara Aiacoboae (W)
- Hunter Atha (M)
Arizona
- Rafael Quintero (M)
- Samantha Pickens (W)
- Michal Bower (W)
- Dominic Ricotta (M)
- Karolyn Loftus (W)
UCLA
- Maira Polykova (W)
- Annika Lenz (W)
Nevada
- Krysta Palmer (W)
Hawaii
- Amund Gismervik (M)
- Aimee Harrison (W)
- Lauren Hall (W)
Stanford
- Kristian Ipsen (M)
- Bradley Christensen (M)
- Kassidy Cook (W)
- Lillian Hinrichs (W)
USC
- Collin Pollard (M)
- Jordan Gear (M)
- Haley Ishimatsu (W)
- Dashiell Enos (M)
- Samantha Adams (W)
- Deon Reid (M)
Utah
- Jacob Crayne (M)
- Jasemine Matkovic (W)
Denver
- Ross Edfort (M)
Bringham Young
- Nathan Gonzales (M)
California
- Eleanor Smart (W)
- Finn Scribbick (M)
I dislike roster limits. Same as in some LSCs where they limit teams to 2 relays… makes no sense to me. If you can prove the cut for a J relay you should get to swim a J relay. Those kids should get to swim.
If someone earned the spot here, they should go. Seems crazy to punish an athlete for making the cut, because why- the team is TOO good? They are capped with scholarships, if top athletes still want to go there on partials or no scholarships and the coaches and athletes work to get there… they should swim. This really bugs me.
How many college pools actually have platform diving structures?
In a survey of the Big 10, SEC, and ACC, only Illinois, Penn State, BC, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and NC State do not have platform towers. Northwestern, Nebraska, South Carolina, and UVA have towers but not up to 10 meters. Penn State and Nebraska have outdoor pools with 10 meter towers but considering their locations, they probably don’t get much use in season. In smaller conferences, I would say that towers are rare. I competed at a college that had a tower and about once a month divers from nearby schools would come and use our tower for practice.
*Of teams with diving programs.
My next question is, if so many schools have the platforms, do they ever dive platform in a meet? In looking at results, it seems like it never is included in dual meets. Seems like it should be in more meets if it’s going to be in the NCAA meets.
When they add synchro or dive relays VA Tech DIVE and swim will be competitive . Poor Hokies