Three Divers Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Kentucky’s diving squad had a successful outing on the first day of the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, with three Wildcats earning bids to the NCAA Championships in their respective events. Junior Rebecca Hamperian will be making her second consecutive appearance on the national stage, and will be joined by Courtney Clark and Seb Masterton.
“I’m very pleased with the effort our divers gave today,” commended diving coach Ted Hautau. “We were thankful to have Seb, Rebecca and Courtney qualify to the NCAA Championships in the events they competed. Seb showed a lot of heart and toughness; Rebecca and Courtney were awesome.”
Hamperian and Clark were among the top-12 finishers in the 1-meter prelims, earning a chance to compete for one of the coveted spots that would guarantee an appearance at the NCAA Championships on March 16-19. Hamperian had the fourth-highest prelims score of 289.90, while Clark was 12th out of prelims with 271.50 points. In the championship session, Hamerian retained her fourth-place position after scoring a 296.10 to finish with a total of 586 points. Clark moved up to ninth after a 282.20 in the finals for a total of 553.70 points. Also competing for UK was Kailey Francetic, who finished 20th with a 244.00.
On the men’s side, both Masterton and Levi Lindsey earned an appearance in the championship final. Masterton held the eighth-best prelims score with 328.40 points, while Lindsey was 11th with 314.90 points. Noah Richter notched a 281.55, good for 20th. In the championship round, Masterton moved up one spot to claim the final qualifying score with a 363.85 for a final tally of 692.25. Lindsey scored a 323.70 in the finals to bring his final score to 638.60, good for 11th overall. With his top-12 score, should Lindsey earn an NCAA qualifying spot in another discipline, he will also compete in the 1-meter dive at the NCAA Championships.
The Zone C Diving Championships will continue tomorrow, starting at 1 p.m. ET. The divers will switch springboards, with the women competing on the 3-meter while the men will be on the 1-meter. Live results are available on divemeets.com.
For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter, on Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive, and on the web at ukathletics.com.
