Kentucky Heads to Ann Arbor for Zone C Diving Championships
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s and women’s diving team will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Zone C Diving Championships at the Donald B. Canham Natatorium. The meet, which serves as the sole opportunity for divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships, will be held March 7-9.
Monday will feature the women’s 1-meter and the men’s 3-meter while the women’s 3-meter and the men’s 1-meter will take place Tuesday. The men’s and women’s platform will be held Wednesday. Prelims will begin at 1 p.m. ET Monday and Tuesday and at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
Divers competing this week had to achieve standards on at least one of the three disciplines — 1-meter, 3-meter and/or platform — throughout the season in order to qualify for the zone championships. All six Wildcat divers in Abby Devereaux, Kyndal Knight, Morgan Southall, Sam Duncan, Rodrigo Romero and Danny Zhang will be competing in Ann Arbor.
The United States is sectioned into five zones, and Zone C is composed of Division I schools from the states of Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. The Wildcats will be competing against 100 other divers representing 22 programs.
At the zone meet, the top 18 finalists from the preliminary round will advance to finals. At the conclusion of the final round on each of the three disciplines for both men and women, tabulators will compile scores from the preliminary round and the final round to determine the divers that will earn bids to the NCAA Championships.
In total, Zone C is allotted nine spots on both the 1-meter and 3-meter as well as 11 spots on platform for men. The women are permitted nine spots for 1-meter and platform and 10 for 3-meter. Any diver that qualifies for the national meet will be allowed to optionally enter any other event(s) at the championships given that the student-athlete finished in the top 12 at the same zone meet in addition to achieving the zone qualifying score.
Knight is fresh off a pair of bronze-medal performances at the Southeastern Conference Championships. The senior, who was one of only two divers at the conference meet to final on all three boards, placed third on the 1-meter and platform. She was named the SEC Female Co-Diver of the Week on Oct. 19, too.
On the men’s side, Zhang finished fourth on both the 1-meter and platform at the SEC Championships. He was tabbed the SEC Male Diver of the Week on Feb. 1.
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