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 defending NCAA champion Texas Longhorns will have at least two divers competing in Indianapolis later this month, including All-American Mark Anderson.
Anderson and Grayson Campbell are both locked into NCAA berths, though neither has yet earned NCAA reimbursement status. With Zone D’s relative wealth of reimbursement slots, though, it seems likely one or both will earn that distinction later this week.
On the men’s side, LSU’s Juan Hernandez won the 1-meter event, followed by Texas A&M’s duo of Tyler Henschel and Sam Thornton. Those three are all locked into NCAA reimbursement slots (the equivalent of the old qualifying method changed in 2015).
For the women, Minnesota dominated competition, qualifying three divers including 3-meter winner Yu Zhou. The 2016 NCAA runner-up on platform, Zhou will be into NCAAs in a reimbursement slot along with eligible (but not yet reimbursed) divers Sarah Bacon and Lexi Tenenbaum.
The Texas women also qualified one diver, Allison Gibson.
The full qualifying list is below. We’ll continue updating this chart as more events happen this week.
Priority | Finisher | Women | Men |
1 | 3-meter Champ | Yu Zhou, MINN | |
2 | 1-meter Champ | Juan Hernandez, LSU | |
3 | Platform Champ | ||
4 | 3-meter 2nd | Elizabeth Cui, LSU | |
5 | 1-meter 2nd | Tyler Henschel, A&M | |
6 | Platform 2nd | ||
7 | 3-meter 3rd | Lauren Reedy, MIZZ | |
8 | 1-meter 3rd | Sam Thornton, A&M | |
9 | Platform 3rd | ||
10 | 3-meter 4th | Alison Gibson, TEX | |
11 | 1-meter 4th | Matt Barnard, MINN | |
12 | Platform 4th | ||
13 | 3-meter 5th | Nicole Gillis, ARK | |
14 | 1-meter 5th | Kyle Goodwin, MIZZ | |
15 | Platform 5th | ||
16 | 3-meter 6th | Sarah Bacon, MINN | |
17 | 1-meter 6th | Mark Anderson, TX | |
18 | Platform 6th | ||
19 | 3-meter 7th | Lexi Tenebaum, MINN | |
20 | 1-meter 7th | Grayson Campbell, TX | |
21 | Platform 7th | ||
22 | 3-meter 8th | — | |
23 | 1-meter 8th | — | Andrew Suchla, LSU |
24 | Platform 8th | ||
25 | 3-meter 9th | — | |
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.
Are we sure Cal will be even second this year? I have a hard time seeing Cal being better then Texas this year.
Cal will load up in fly, backstroke, and IM. Relays all currently ranked vwry high. Weak in breast like Horns, except for Licon. Several Cal relays ranked ahead of Horns. Can’t wait to see what Braden and staff project. They’ve had Cal at #1 pretty much all year year over Horns.
Bay City Tex – you might be confusing the CSCAA dual meet polls (which we have no voting stake in) with our own Power Ranks. We had Texas ranked ahead of Cal all year (see here and here) until the most recent rankings, when we noted (here) that Texas was still the heavy favorites but hadn’t yet shown big swims from their top athletes.
Okay, I could’ve swirn Cal was ahead in your more,recent power rankings. December, January, February? Thanks for setting me straight!
Does Cal have any men divers who could,score at N.C’s? I’ve been saying for months it,could come down to diving. Now with Quah, it’s crucial Horns scorescore at least 50. Anderson scored 35 last year. Maybe Grayson can score 15?
The Cal men just qualified one diver in the session that wrapped up a few minutes ago: https://staging.swimswam.com/stanford-women-qualify-2-divers-cal-women-1-zone-e-day-1/. Connor Callahan was 7th in Zone E in 1-meter. Hard to project if he has a shot at NCAA scoring in any event, especially until after Zones wrap up.
Thanks for the info.