Chelsea Jackson Advances to Finals at USA Diving Zones

Chelsea Jackson finished competition at the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone F Championships on Sunday, just short of qualifying for the National Diving Championships in August. Jackson, the soon-to-be senior leader of Northern Arizona’s diving team, advanced to the finals on both springboards before her bid for a second consecutive national championship appearance came to an end.

“Chelsea performed really well and her (preliminary) 1-meter score was probably the best she’s ever done,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “The competition was great and she hung in there but she had to be on fire. We had to compete at Zones a month earlier this year and we probably needed another two or three weeks to train because after the NCAA season is over, you need a little break and it takes a while to get back into it. All in all, she dove great though but we need to train a little differently.”

Jackson started the competition out as the best diver on the 1-meter springboards placing first in the prelims out of 24 dives with a score of 241.55 last Thursday. With it, Jackson carried incredible momentum with her into the finals, but unlike the NCAA Zone meet the scores reset in the finals. In the final round, Jackson placed 10th with a score of 196.30 – just a mere 12 points out of a top five qualifying spot.

“Chelsea won the prelims but she missed one dive (in the finals) that pulled her out,” Huffman said. “She was only 12 points out of qualifying and that’s the first time she’s been that close to qualifying. It was the first time she had ever qualified for 1-meter finals.”

After an up-and-down performance on 1-meter, the Flagstaff native turned her attention to repeating as a national qualifier on the 3-meter springboard on Sunday and did her part in the preliminary round to advance to the finals. Following the opening session, Jackson placed 11th with a score of 216.30 before concluding with a finals score of 214.45, good for 12th overall.

Jackson was one of eight divers to qualify for the Zone F finals on both springboards.

Also competing at the Zone F meet was incoming NAU freshman Raquel Gonzales. Gonzales, out of Chandler, Ariz., placed 13th in the 1-meter preliminaries with a score of 184.55 and 19th in the 3-meter preliminaries with a score of 176.35.

“Raquel had an injury a couple of months ago and she’s looking stronger and stronger,” Huffman said. “We’re excited what she will be able to do this year.”

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworld.com.

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