March 8, 2012

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Earning a 742.45 on the three-meter competition in the opening day of the 2012 NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, Greg Ferrucci paced the way for the young Wildcat diving team that performed well Thursday afternoon at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind., on the campus of Indiana University.

Ferrucci finished just 10.7 points out of being a top-three finisher, which would have automatically qualified him for the 2012 NCAA Championships. The winning score was 769.90 by Darian Schmidt of Indiana.

Ferrucci still has a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, as the sophomore will look for consistency in the final two days of the zone competition. Divers qualify based on their finishes in the three events. For example, the platform winner, three-meter winner and one-meter winner would earn the top three spots. The three-meter runner-up would claim the fourth spot, with the one-meter runner-up fifth on the grid. The three-meter third-place finisher gets spot No. 6, while the third-place finisher on the 1-meter gets the No. 7 slot.

John Fox tallied a top-10 finish for the Wildcats, charting a score of 665.95 with Corey Cowger (582.40) and Zach Peterson (548.40) finishing in 16th and 17th place respectfully.

On the women’s side, the top finisher for UK was Sarah Chewning, who charted a 20th-place finish in the one-meter competition. Chewning accumulated a score of 255.45 with teammate Christa Cabot placing 22nd overall with a score of 252.10. Lindsay Keahey scored a 216.15, which was 46th overall.

Round two of the event will be Friday afternoon, as the men will compete on the one-meter springboard and the women competing on the three meter. The first dive will be at 1:00 p.m. ET. Live results of the competition can be found at divemeets.com and extensive coverage of the 2012 NCAA Zone’s will be available through the Indiana University website at http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-swim/spec-rel/12-zone-c-diving-meet.html.

For continuing coverage of the 2012 season, log on to UKathletics.com.