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 Purdue Boilermakers added another male and female diver to their respective NCAA rosters, hitting a nation-high 6 divers with NCAA eligibility.
Morgan Meixner was 4th on 1-meter for women and Brandon Loschiavo 5th on 3-meter for men, both earning NCAA bids, though not yet reimbursement status. Steele Johnson took 3rd to stay hot after his runner-up finish a day earlier. Joseph Cifelli is still qualified from yesterday. For the women, Samantha Reese is now into reimursement status from her finish yesterday, and Emily Meaney is also qualified.
Kentucky’s Rebecca Hamperian won the women’s 1-meter event and earns reimbursement status after qualifying for an NCAA slot yesterday. Indiana stayed undefeated on the men’s side as James Connor won 3-meter over his teammate Michael Hixon, who won 1-meter yesterday.
| Priority | Finisher | Women | Men |
| 1 | 3-meter Champ | Pei Lin, MIA | James Connor, IND |
| 2 | 1-meter Champ | Rebecca Hamperian, KY | Michael Hixon, IND |
| 3 | Platform Champ | ||
| 4 | 3-meter 2nd | Jessica Parratto, IND | |
| 5 | 1-meter 2nd | Steele Johnson, PUR | |
| 6 | Platform 2nd | ||
| 7 | 3-meter 3rd | Michal Bower, IND | |
| 8 | 1-meter 3rd | Zhipeng Zeng, OSU | |
| 9 | Platform 3rd | ||
| 10 | 3-meter 4th | Samantha Reese, PUR | |
| 11 | 1-meter 4th | Morgan Meixner, PUR | |
| 12 | Platform 4th | ||
| 13 | 3-meter 5th | Molly Fears, LOU | Brandon Loschiavo, PUR |
| 14 | 1-meter 5th | Madeline Sewell, MSU | Joseph Cifelli, PUR |
| 15 | Platform 5th | ||
| 16 | 3-meter 6th | Emily Meaney, PUR | Sebastian Masterton, KY |
| 17 | 1-meter 6th | Claire Andrews, ND | — |
| 18 | Platform 6th | ||
| 19 | 3-meter 7th | Joseph Cuomos, ND | |
| 20 | 1-meter 7th | Kristen Hayden, MICH | — |
| 21 | Platform 7th | — | |
| 22 | 3-meter 8th | Alessandra Murphy, MICH | — |
| 23 | 1-meter 8th | Paige Kelkenberg, AKR | — |
| 24 | Platform 8th | — | — |
| 25 | 3-meter 9th | Keegan McCaffrey, MICH | — |
| 26 | 1-meter 9th | — | — |
| 27 | Platform 9th | — | — |
(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.