ATHENS, Ga.? Junior Kari Retrum placed sixth at the NCAA Zone Championship hosted by the University of Georgia, just missing the qualifying top five for the NCAA Championships on the three-meter board Friday.
Senior Taryn Ignacio took eighth on the three-meter and sophomore Justin Smith placed 22nd on the one-meter for the Wildcats. The top five women divers on the three-meter board advance to the NCAA Championships, and the top three men on the one-meter.
Retrum scored 576.55 on the three-meter to place sixth in the finals competition. Her third dive score of 53.20 was the highest in the finals round. LSU?s Hali Saucier took the top spot for the women tonight, scoring 636.80. Edging Retrum for the final Zone B spot, was Auburn?s Lynnsey Segraves with a score of 591.80.
Ignacio, the second-place finisher at the SEC Championships on the three-meter, scored 561.45 points good for eighth place at the Zones. Ignacio entered the evening with the second highest score after the preliminary round. In the finals tonight, her second round dive failed to score (0.00 points), which proved to be the difference maker, as she scored in the top 10 with only five scored dives. Her fourth round dive scored 60.20 points, the highest in her finals competition.
Smith placed 22nd and did not make the finals competition. He scored 262.20 points with six dives in the morning rounds.
Kentucky?s divers will attempt to put their misfortunes behind them from the first day, and look forward to their stronger events in the next two days. Ignacio won the one-meter and platform events at the SEC Championships, while Retrum placed fourth in both events. Smith earned his first ever career top-eight finish at the SEC Championships on the three-meter this season.
Tomorrow the women will compete on the one-meter, while the men will tackle the three-meter. Sunday is reserved for men?s and women?s platform events, where Ignacio is the reigning national champion.
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.
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.
Complete coverage of UK?s three divers at the NCAA Zone Championships can be found at www.ukathletics.com.
2007 Zone B Diving Championships
WOMENS 3M FINALS
Rank Diver Total 1.H SAUCIER (LSU) 636.80 2.C GERLACH (AUB) 628.15 3.J DREYER (MIA) 621.00 4.H BOUNDS (MIA) 595.30 5.L SEGRAVES (AUB) 591.80 6.K RETRUM (UKY) 576.55 7.L LEROY (UTN) 566.40 8.T IGNACIO (UKY) 561.45 9.E GRIESEMER (AUB) 551.95 10.B VIOLA (MIA) 540.75 11.C ICENHOWER (ECU) 537.05 12.S ENGLAND (GT) 531.40 13.E HUNTER (UGA) 523.75 14.J BRUMMOND (DUKE) 515.35 15.T WARESMITH (MIA) 502.35 16.L FILIP (UNC) 500.30 17.E MATHEIS (UNC) 498.10 18.L KARATANEVSKI (UNC) 484.60
