2017 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D & E: Monday, March 6 – Wednesday, March 8
- Zone C: Thursday, March 9 – Saturday, March 11
- Host schools:
- Zone A: Virginia Tech
- Zone B: Auburn
- Zone C: Indiana
- Zone D: Missouri
- Zone E: Northern Arizona
- NCAA selection primer
The Minnesota Golden Gophers have jumped to the top of Zone D after two days, going 1-2 on the women’s 1-meter and qualifying one more male diver for NCAAs.
Yu Zhou remained undefeated on the week, winning 1-meter a day after taking 3-meter. She’ll look for the sweep tomorrow. In addition, freshman teammate Sarah Bacon was second, locking in a reimbursement slot. She was eligible but not reimbursed after a 6th-place finish yesterday. And Lexi Tenenbaum reprised her 7th-place finish from yesterday and is NCAA eligible in both events.
For the men, Matt Barnard took third on 3-meter to claim a reimbursement slot, and Alan LeBlang also qualified for NCAAs after taking 9th on 3-meter.
Juan Hernandez of LSU won his second event and will tackle a sweep tomorrow. Texas’s duo of Mark Anderson (2nd) and Grayson Campbell (8th) continued to earn more diving events at NCAAs in a qualification that could affect the team race in a big way.
| Priority | Finisher | Women | Men |
| 1 | 3-meter Champ | Yu Zhou, MINN | Juan Hernandez, LSU |
| 2 | 1-meter Champ | ||
| 3 | Platform Champ | ||
| 4 | 3-meter 2nd | Elizabeth Cui, LSU | Mark Anderson, TX |
| 5 | 1-meter 2nd | Sarah Bacon, MINN | Tyler Henschel, A&M |
| 6 | Platform 2nd | ||
| 7 | 3-meter 3rd | Lauren Reedy, MIZZ | Matt Barnard, MINN |
| 8 | 1-meter 3rd | Meghan O’Brien, TX | Sam Thornton, A&M |
| 9 | Platform 3rd | ||
| 10 | 3-meter 4th | Alison Gibson, TX | |
| 11 | 1-meter 4th | ||
| 12 | Platform 4th | ||
| 13 | 3-meter 5th | Nicole Gillis, ARK | Kyle Goodwin, MIZZ |
| 14 | 1-meter 5th | Anna Filipcic, NEB | |
| 15 | Platform 5th | ||
| 16 | 3-meter 6th | Andrew Suchla, LSU | |
| 17 | 1-meter 6th | ||
| 18 | Platform 6th | ||
| 19 | 3-meter 7th | Lexi Tenebaum, MINN | Matthew McClellan, LSU |
| 20 | 1-meter 7th | Grayson Campbell, TX | |
| 21 | Platform 7th | ||
| 22 | 3-meter 8th | — | |
| 23 | 1-meter 8th | — | |
| 24 | Platform 8th | ||
| 25 | 3-meter 9th | — | Alan LeBlang, MINN |
| 26 | 1-meter 9th | — | — |
| 27 | Platform 9th | ||
| 28 | 3-meter 10th | — | — |
| 29 | 1-meter 10th | — | — |
| 30 | Platform 10th | — | |
| 31 | 3-meter 11th | — | — |
| 32 | 1-meter 11th | — | — |
| 33 | Platform 11th | — |
(Athletes in bold are locked in for NCAA reimbursement. Athletes who have doubled up on qualifying spots are noted with a line through their lower priority slot.)
NCAA ZONE QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
From our refresher post, which you can find here.
Divers qualify for the NCAA Championships through Zone Meets spread across the country. Each zone earns a set number of NCAA qualifying spots based on the performances of that Zone at NCAAs in the past.
Here are the qualifying spots for each event in each zone:
WOMEN
| 1M | 3M | PLATFORM | |
| Zone A | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Zone B | 10 | 9 | 7 |
| Zone C | 8 | 9 | 6 |
| Zone D | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| Zone E | 11 | 9 | 11 |
MEN
| 1M | 3M | PLATFORM | |
| Zone A | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Zone B | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| Zone C | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Zone D | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Zone E | 9 | 5 | 7 |
According to the rules set in 2015 that allowed more divers into the meet, any diver who lands in the qualifying spots for their zone earns a spot to compete in the NCAA Championships. If the diver earns eligibility in one event, they can automatically compete in any of the other two events at NCAAs as long as they finished in the top 12 in their zone in that event.
The NCAA made a distinction between “eligible” and “reimbursed” athletes. Divers qualifying outside of the reimbursement spots will not have their travel, lodging, or meet expenses covered by the NCAA. Instead the individual school must decide if they’re willing to pay the bill themselves to give that diver an opportunity to participate in the NCAA Championships.
| WOMEN | MEN | |
| Zone A | 5 | 5 |
| Zone B | 9 | 9 |
| Zone C | 8 | 6 |
| Zone D | 8 | 9 |
| Zone E | 11 | 6 |
A priority chart determines who gets the reimbursement spots. The first priority spot is taken by the winner of each event beginning with the 3-meter champ, followed by the 1-meter champ and then the platform champ. If an athlete wins two events, they will still only take up one slot which means the NCAA will keep adding rows to this chart until the zone meet reimbursement quota is met.