March 13, 2014
Columbus, Ohio – Five University of Kentucky divers advanced to the finals and three placed in the top 10 on the first day of the NCAA Zone Diving Championships at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion Thursday.
Seniors Greg Ferrucci placed third in the men’s 3-meter competition, while junior Christa Cabot finished fourth in the women’s 1-meter to highlight a strong first day for the Wildcats. Seniors Zack Peterson and John Fox advanced to the 3-meter finals and finished 10th and 17th, respectively, while junior Lindsay Keahey also earned a finals appearance and finished 17th in the 1-meter.
“It was an exciting day one at the zone meet,” UK diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Zack Peterson was great today, his best NCAA qualifying meet in his four years. He made the finals and was mistake free on the day through 12 dives. John Fox also made the finals and didn’t have any bad dives, but was not razor sharp. Greg Ferrucci gave me some gray hairs today. He failed a dive in the preliminaries but did well enough on the other 5 dives to make the finals. He had to make up some ground and nailed his last dive to pull of third place and qualify for NCAA’s.
“Lindsay Keahey was also good and consistent and made the first 1-meter final of her career at the NCAA zone meet. Christa Cabot was excellent. She missed one dive in the preliminaries but battled back hard in the finals and took fourth in a terrific field of divers.”
Ferrucci advanced to the 3-meter finals with a 331.50 in the prelims, seventh overall heading into the finals. He put together a strong performance in the finals to finish with a 727.05, good for third overall.
Peterson finished 10th overall with a 660.90 after a 320.65 in the prelims, while Fox scored a 595.25 to finish 17th in the finals. Fox scored a 292.55 in the prelims. Sophomore Noah Richter scored a 201.60 in the prelims to finish 40th overall.
In the women’s 1-meter competition, Cabot, one of two Wildcats in the event, placed fourth with a 604.85. In a tightly-contested final, she finished less than three points out of second place. Cabot scored a 293.10 in the prelims, the sixth-best score.
Keahey also advanced to the finals with a 262.00 and finished with a 519.65 to place 17th overall. It marked the junior’s first Zone Diving Championships finals appearance.
The three-day competition continues Friday with the men’s 1-meter and women’s 3-meter prelims and finals, followed by the men’s and women’s platform event on Saturday.
Kentucky’s six divers will look to join a field of four swimmers and one relay squad who have already earned NCAA berths. Juniors Christina Bechtel and Abby Myers and freshman Danielle Galyer will represent UK at the women’s championships next weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. Freshman Brandon Flynn, along with UK’s 200 medley relay team of senior Lucas Gerotto, junior George Greenhalgh and seniors Eric Bruck and Chris Lott will swim for Kentucky at the men’s championships the following weekend in Austin, Texas.
Fans can follow along with all the action from OSU’s McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion with live results at DiveMeets.com. Additional updates can be found at @UKSwimDive, the official Twitter account of the UK swimming and diving program.
For complete news and updates on the Kentucky Swimming and Diving program, go to UKathletics.com/SwimmingDiving. Breaking news, behind-the-scenes updates, photos and more can be found on Twitter at @UKSwimDive and Facebook at Facebook.com/UKSwimDive.
