March 15, 2014
Columbus, Ohio – Divers Christa Cabot and Greg Ferrucci qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship on the final day of the NCAA Zone Diving Championships at Ohio State’s McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion Saturday.
Cabot, a junior, earned her second consecutive NCAA Championships berth thanks to a second-place finish in the women’s 3-meter springboard event Friday, while Ferrucci will make has third NCAA appearance in a row after the senior placed third in the men’s 3-meter event on Thursday.
On the final day of competition, on platform, five of UK’s six divers advanced to the finals. Junior Lindsay Keahey posted Kentucky’s top finish at fourth, just shy of qualifying for her first NCAA Championships. In the men’s event, senior Zack Peterson finished sixth. Cabot and Ferrucci, who had already solidified their NCAA bid the first two days of competition, won the prelims before doing lower-scoring dives in the finals.
“It was a very good day here on the final day of the Zone Diving Championships,” UK diving coach Ted Hautau said. “Greg and Christa each won the platform preliminaries, and Lindsay Keahey finished fourth overall, just one spot out of qualifying for NCAAs. She had a great three days and has improved a lot in the past year. Zack Peterson had another career-best performance today to cap a great three days for him.”
Friday, Cabot scored a 689.90 to finish second in the women’s 3-meter event. She was one of nine women selected from Zone C Diving Championships, one of five zones across the country.
Thursday, Ferrucci placed third in the men’s 3-meter with a 727.05 and is one of eight men that qualified to the NCAA Championships from the Zone C event.
In the platform competition Saturday, Keahey scored a 513.15 to finish fourth, just 10.20 points out of third place. Cabot scored a 459.30 to place seventh after a zone-best 292.05 in the prelims.
Peterson headlined the Wildcat men with a sixth-place finish to cap his UK career with a 632.40. Fellow senior John Fox finished ninth with a 606.25 and Ferrucci was 10th with a 579.00 after a 387.15 to finish first in the prelims. Sophomore Noah Richter was 18th overall with a 233.40.
Cabot and Ferrucci will join a field of four swimmers and one relay squad who 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.
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.
