LEXINGTON, Ky.?Senior Taryn Ignacio?s quest to repeat as a National Champion begins this weekend at the site where she became Kentucky?s first champion 11 months ago.
Coach Mike Lyden will accompany Ignacio, junior Kari Retrum and sophomore Justin Smith to the NCAA B Zone Diving Championship hosted by the University of Georgia this weekend. There are five Zone competitions going on this weekend, and the top 35 men and the top 41 women will advance to the NCAA Championships. Eight of those men and 11 of those women will come from Zone B. Over 90 divers will participate this weekend.
The Zone B Championship will begin with springboard events on Friday and Saturday starting at noon. The platform competition will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Divers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Duke, East Carolina, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina, North Carolina State, North Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Tech will compete for 19 spots in the NCAA Championships.
The other Zone Diving Championships are taking place at Rutgers, Michigan, Texas and Oklahoma City Community College. The NCAAs will be held at the University of Minnesota, March 8-10 for the women, and March 15-17 for the men.
Last season, Kentucky hosted the Zone Championships at the Lancaster Aquatic Center. Ignacio qualified for the NCAA Championships in the platform event and on the one-meter board. The Richmond, Ky., native would then go on to the NCAA Championships hosted by Georgia and earn the school?s first ever national championship when she set records with her score on the platform event. She also placed eighth on the one-meter board.
This season, Lyden and Ignacio have become the epitome of diving excellence in the Southeastern Conference, as the duo were named the SEC Coach of the Year and the SEC Diver of the Year for the third consecutive season.
Ignacio became only the second female diver in the history of the SEC to three-peat in the platform event, scoring 319.75 points while setting pool and SEC records along the way. Her closest competitor was 25 points off of her total mark. The only record the defending national-champion did not set was a personal-best score, which she achieved last season at the NCAA Championships (335.20). Her name now appears on the top of the NCAA, SEC, and Kentucky record books for platform diving records.
She also captured gold on the one-meter springboard. In her second win in three seasons on the one-meter board, she also eclipsed SEC, pool, UK and personal-best records. With her two Championships in 2007 she became the school?s all-time leader both male and female with five SEC Championships. Roger Messick, a swimmer, claimed four titles from 1955-57. Two former athletes have three titles (swimmer Rachel Komisarz and diver Clayton Moss).
Retrum placed third on the three-meter, and fourth on the one-meter and platform board at the SEC Championships. The junior surpassed her finishes from a season ago, and has set personal-best records in both springboard events this season.
Sophomore Justin Smith qualified for the finals of competition on the three-meter board at the SEC Championships for the first time in his career. Smith earned an eighth-place finish in the event, while taking 10th on the one-meter and 14th on the platform.
Complete coverage of UK?s three divers at the NCAA Zone Championships can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
