Three Women, Three Men Fit for Zone C Diving Championships
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Kentucky will look to grow its traveling party to the 2019 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, as six divers will compete in the Zone C Diving Championships March 14-16 at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. The Zone C Diving Championships is the lone opportunity for divers to earn spot(s) at the national meet.
Freshmen Kyndal Knight and Danny Zhang, sophomore Chase Lane, and seniors Courtney Clark, Kailey Francetic and Seb Masterton will compete for a ticket to the national meet.
United States is sectioned into five zones. UK is in Zone C, which includes Division I programs from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Divers competing in the zone championships had to meet preset NCAA standards at a dive meet this season. A diver could have met an NCAA standard in one, two or all of three disciplines – 1-meter springboard, 3-meter springboard and/or platform.
Each UK diver who qualified for the zone championships met requirements to compete in each discipline, except for freshman Danny Zhang who joined the program in January. He will compete in both springboard divisions, but will not compete on platform.
At the zone championships, the top 18 finishers from the preliminary round will advance to the final round. At the conclusion of the final round per discipline, tabulators will compile scores from the preliminary round and the final round to determine finals placing. From the finals placing list, only top finishers will earn a ticket to the national meet:
Zone C: Automatic Qualifying Spots
1-Meter – Women: 9; Men: 11
3-Meter – Women: 8; Men: 8
Platform – Women: 12; Men: 8
If a diver auto-qualifies for an event, he or she will be allowed to optionally enter any other event(s) at the national meet, provided that the diver finished in the top 12 in the additional discipline at the same zone meet.
The NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships will commence March 20-23, while the NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships resumes March 27-30. Both meets will be hosted at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas.
Of the six UK divers who will compete this weekend, three earned podium finishes at the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championships in late February – Clark, Lane and Zhang.
Clark earned a silver medal on platform with a 292.90, her career best. It ranks fifth all-time in program history. Lane also earned silver on platform. He reported a 424.65 in the final round, also his career best. It is the second-best score in program history. Newcomer Zhang collected a bronze medal on the 3M springboard with a 439.50, the second-best score in program history, too.
The six divers that earned spots in the zone championships are the same six who competed in the league meet. There, each of the six Wildcats earned at least one finals appearance, while Clark, Lane and Zhang went on to earn a medal.
Nine swimmers from the UK women’s swimming and diving team have already been invited to compete in the national meet – the zone championship is the final opportunity to qualify athletes. The committee will release the invited male swimmers on Wednesday. Divers who qualify this weekend will join the UK swimmers at the national meet, which will make up the amount of possible scorers for each team.
Schedule of Events
Thursday, March 14 1 p.m. Men’s 1M
Women’s 3M
15 minute break in between list to cut to top 18
Friday, March 15 1 p.m. Women’s 1M
Men’s 3M
15 minute break in between list to cut to top 18
Saturday, March 16 11 a.m. Women’s PL
15 minute break in between list to cut to top 18
One-hour warm up for men
Men’s PL
For the latest on the Kentucky swimming and diving program, follow @UKSwimDive on Twitter and on Instagram, on Facebook and on the web at UKathletics.com.
