With NCAA swimming invites locking in this week (women) and next (men), the final piece of the puzzle are diving invites, which will finalize next week with Zone Diving Championships.
The NCAA invite process is plenty complex for both swimming and diving. We’ll run through the process below, along with dates and locations for each of the NCAA’s five diving zones.
NCAA ZONE QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
Full selection procedures are spelled out in the NCAA Pre-Championships handbook here
There are five zone meets spread across the country that allow divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Each zone earns a certain number of qualifying spots in each event, based on how that zone performed at NCAAs last year.
There’s also a distinction between eligibility and reimbursement spots. The highest-priority divers qualify for NCAA reimbursement to cover their travel expenses for NCAAs. More divers earn NCAA eligibility, but have to travel to the meet with their school footing the bill. While that could technically cause a school to decline to send an eligible diver, it hasn’t been a major factor in the past, so in the interest of keeping things simple, we’ll mainly just track divers with qualifying eligibility.
Take a look at the qualifying spots for each zone and each event:
WOMEN
| WOMEN | ELIGIBILITY | ||
| 1m | 3m | Platform | |
| Zone A | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Zone B | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Zone C | 7 | 6 | 10 |
| Zone D | 10 | 13 | 9 |
| Zone E | 12 | 9 | 9 |
MEN
| MEN | ELIGIBILITY | ||
| 1m | 3m | Platform | |
| Zone A | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Zone B | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| Zone C | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| Zone D | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Zone E | 4 | 7 | 6 |
Any athlete who finishes within one of those eligibility spots will make NCAAs. Additionally, they can enter additional dive events, but only if they were top 12 in their zone in that event – much like an NCAA B cut in swimming.
ZONE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETS
Here’s a breakdown of each zone, dates of competition, the host of each zone, and where you can find results.
- Zone A – March 9-11, West Virginia University (Results)
- Zone B – March 9-11, University of Georgia (Results)
- Zone C – March 12-14, University of Kentucky (Results)
- Zone D – March 9-11, Southern Methodist University (Results)
- Zone E – March 9-11, University of Utah (Results)
Stay tuned to our diving channel for updates on qualifying as results pour in next week.
Does that include the bonus numbers they get now …the schools have to pay their way
Texas…Diving!!!!!