Divers Qualify for NCAA Championships at Zone Meets

Zone B Diving Championships
AUBURN, Ala.- Sophomore Lauryn McCalley (Moultrie, Ga.) became the latest Lady Vol to qualify for the NCAA Championships after registering a sixth-place
finish on the one-meter springboard at the NCAA Zone B Diving Regional on Saturday. With McCalley's performance, a total of five Lady Vols have now
assured themselves a trip to NCAAs.

McCalley recorded a combined prelims/finals score of 578.95 points, and qualified for NCAAs by finishing among the top four divers who had not already qualified on the 3m yesterday. Although she placed sixth overall, McCalley became the fourth qualifier on the 1m because third-place Lane Bassham of Alabama and fourth-place Jaime Sanger of Tennessee had already assured spots at NCAAs by placing in the top five on the 3m. Sanger, a senior from Plymouth, Minn., tallied a score of 584.55 on the 1m Saturday, an event in which she has won the SEC title three years in a row.

"We're very excited to have three divers qualified for NCAAs so far," UT Diving Coach Dave Parrington said.
"There was some extremely good competition here with a lot of depth and talent in this field. Lauryn showed a lot of resilience today by bouncing back after failing to qualify on the three-meter yesterday."

Three South Carolina divers qualified for the NCAA Championships as the Gamecocks completed day one of the Zone B Championships in Auburn, Ala. Sophomore Andy Bradley finished second on the one-meter board with a score of 700.45 and sophomores Tracey Richardson (503.65) and Lauren King (501.45) placed fourth and fifth respectively on the women’s three-meter to qualify for USC.

This is the second consecutive year Bradley has qualified for the NCAA Championships. As a freshman at
BYU, Bradley earned honorable mention All-American honors with a 16th place finish on the one-meter board.
Bradley had two fourth place finishes at the SEC Championships this year.

Clayton Moss of Kentucky won the one-meter event with a score of 725.00.

On the women’s side, Richardson, the SEC champion in the three-meter board qualified for her second
consecutive year. This is also King’s second time qualifying for the NCAA Championships and her first as a member of USC.

Auburn divers Caesar Garcia and Matt Bricker both performed as needed on Saturday, March 15, as the duo finished high enough during the men's 3-meter diving competition to qualify for the Men's NCAA Championships at the Zone B Diving Regional held at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

Garcia scored a 582.55 to place third while Bricker posted a 556.60 to place sixth as the divers competed on the second of three boards during the three-day competition. The NCAA qualifiers from this zone will not be finalized until after tomorrow's platform competition, but both Garcia and Bricker placed high enough today to ensure that they are qualified for the meet.

For the women, Ashley Rubenstein was the Tigers' highest finisher, placing ninth (551.40), while Kelsey Patterson was 18th (497.65).

Saturday's Men's Qualifiers
Philip Jones (UT)
Caesar Garcia (AU)
Miguel Velasquez (UM)
Louie Gagnet (FSU)
Matt Bricker (AU)

Saturday's Women's Qualifiers
Katie Beth Bryant (UM)
Jessica Wantz (LSU)
Emily Spychala (UM)
Lauryn McCalley (UT)

A dver who qualifies for NCAAs in any one diving event will then be able to compete there in all events in which she participated at the zone meet. The NCAA Championships will take place from March 20-22 at the same venue as the one B Diving Regional, the Martin Aquatics Center.

COMPLETE RESULTS:
NCAA Zone B Regional
March 14, 2003
Auburn, Ala.

ONE-METER SPRINGBOARD FINALS
1.K BRYANT (UM) 631.35
2.J WANTZ (LSU) 592.70
3.L BASSHAM (UALA) 589.05
4.J SANGER (UT) 584.55
5.E SPYCHALA (UM) 580.50
6.L MCCALLEY (UT) 578.95
7.L KING (USC) 570.35
8.A BRENNAN (USC) 559.85
9.A RUBENSTEIN (AU) 551.40
10.K CONNOR (UF) 549.90
11.N BOLT (UF) 542.85
12.T RICHARDSON (USC) 536.00
13.C LEREW (FSU) 531.80
14.K WELLS (UT) 530.25
15.K BORTENLANGER (UALA 519.40
16.M RINALDI (UM) 511.85
17.M CULBERSON (NCSU) 510.25
18.K PATTERSON (AU) 497.65

Zone D Diving Championships
AUSTIN, Texas- Texas sophomore All-Americans Jonathan Linette (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Nicole Pohorenec (Winter Springs, Fla.) won the men's and women's platform competition, respectively, at the NCAA
Zone D Diving Championships on Sunday afternoon at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center. Pohorenec's performance also opened the door for freshman Melanie Panek (Houston, Texas) to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

Linnette, a 2002 All-American on the platform, won the
platform competition with a score of 581.10 a day after finishing second on the three-meter springboard. Freshman Mark Shattuck (Derby, United Kingdom), who qualified on Saturday by placing third on the three-meter springboard, will join Linette at the NCAA Championships, which will be held in Austin at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center from Thursday-Sunday, March 27-29.

Pohorenec, who qualified for the NCAA Championships on
Saturday, validated her berth at the national meet by winning the platform competition on Sunday with a score of 456.80. By winning the event, Pohorenec also paved the way for Panek to earn a berth at the national meet. With a total of eight women divers being selected from the Zone D meet, Panek was able to earn a berth to the National Championships by finishing fourth on the one-meter and sixth on the
three-meter. Pohorenec and Panek will be joined at the National Championships, which will be held at Auburn, Ala. from Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22, by junior Ally Hartzell (Cedar Park, Texas) and senior Summer Mitchell (Troy, Mich.).

Texas A&M divers Adam Morgan and Christian Picard each earned top eight finishes on the three-meter springboard at the 2003 Zone D Diving Championships being held at Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center this weekend.

Picard, a freshman from Montreal,finished in seventh place on the three-meter with a score of 497.35 while Morgan, a junior from Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, was eighth with 489 points.

Brice Dumais of Southern Methodist won his second event in as many days by outpointing Texas diver Jonathan Linette 581.85 to 553.60.

Picard's season-best score of 561.20 at the Big 12 Championships would have earned him a runner-up finish and improved his chances for qualifying for the NCAA Championships which are also scheduled for Austin in two weeks. Morgan finished in the runner-up slot on the one-meter on Friday.

Zone E Diving Championships
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Arizona State qualified two divers to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships as action concluded this afternoon at the Zone E Diving Championships at the Oklahoma City Community College Pool. Freshman Joona Puhakka will join the men's squad while sophomore Trisha Tumlinson will go with the women to their respective national championship meets.

Puhakka, who won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events this weekend, qualified as the No. 1 diver out of Zone E. Sophomore Thomas McCrummen finished the weekend in ninth position in a zone that sends seven qualifiers to the national championships. He will serve as the second alternate. In this afternoon's final event, Puhakka finished fifth on the platform (426.55) and McCrummen finished seventh (376.55).

Sun Devil sophomore Trisha Tumlinson finished the zone meet in fifth place overall on the women's side to lock up an NCAA berth. Earlier in the weekend, Tumlinson finished third on the 1-meter and sixth on the 3-meter while she notched a third place finish in Saturday's platform event (420.40). ASU junior Jessica Stenson earned 12th place in the platform competition with a 334.85.

Tumlinson will join the ASU women's contingent of seven swimmers when they travel to the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships March 20-22 in Auburn, Ala. Puhakka will travel with the seven qualified ASU men's swimmers to Austin, Texas, March 27-29 for their national meet.

Men one-meter finals
1. Joona Puhakka, ASU (709.25)
2. Justin Beardall, BYU (642.95)
3. Aaron Russell, BYU (617.20)
4. Josh Anderson, ARIZ (613.75)
5. Nick Bartolotta, CAL (596.80)
6. Adam Peterson, STAN (583.90)
7. Robbie Quinn, CAL (573.35)
8. Michael Gowdy, HAW (568.95)
9. Thomas McCrummen, ASU (564.15)
10. Ray Vincent, USC (554.15)
11. Alex Vollelunga, ARIZ (538.80)
12. Jonathan Coyle, HAW (535.95)
13. Gavin Olmstead, STAN (523.05)
14. Nathaniel Dean, CAL (505.30)
15. Brady Lindberg, USAF (494.50)
16. Scott Koenig, ARIZ (493.45)
17. Scott Randall, BYU (478.45)
18. Anton Slobovnov, UCI (475.30)

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