Though we’re not DiveDove, we do dabble in diving coverage, and as diving can have a major impact on the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, we cover NCAA Zone Diving – mainly through the lens of how national diving qualifiers could impact the team points battles later this month.
2020 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 9 – Wednesday, March 13
- Zone C: Thursday, March 12 – Saturday, March 14
- Host schools, with live result links:
- Revisit our NCAA selection primer
Women:
The Virginia women are getting boost after boost to their NCAA title hopes this week: two more divers qualified for NCAAs Tuesday, bringing the Cavaliers to 3 women’s divers invited.
Senior Sydney Dusel won the 3-meter event today in Zone A, putting herself as the #1 priority diver invited out of the Zone on the women’s side. Dusel was second on 1-meter yesterday. Though Zone A isn’t necessarily a powerhouse diving zone nationally, Dusel’s performances this week could put her in the mix to score points at NCAAs next week. She missed last year’s post-season, but the season before was 21st on 3-meter and 24th on platform, not far out of scoring in both.
Virginia went 1-2-3 on 3-meter today, with junior Jocelyn Porter and freshman Jennifer Bell joining the NCAA invitees.
Harvard also got two new divers in on the women’s side: Georgina Milne and Esther Lawrence.
Men:
Navy’s Bradley Buchter won his second event of the week, qualifying on both springboards for NCAAs. Buchter was 13th at NCAAs last year, and trounced the Zone A field by 83 points.
Three Ivy Leaguers made new invites today on the men’s side. Princeton got in both Charlie Minns and Colten Young, while Dartmouth qualified Justin Sodokoff.
Virginia’s Ian Shelton also added a second event to his NCAA lineup.
Current Qualifiers
SIMPLIFIED INVITE PROCEDURES
You can read a more in-depth look at the selection process here. Effectively, each Zone earns a specific number of qualifying spots in each event, based on how that Zone performed at NCAAs last year. Divers who place inside the qualifying places earn an NCAA invite. A diver invited in one event can compete at NCAAs in any other diving event where they were top 12 in their Zone meet. The highest-placing divers earn NCAA reimbursement, while lower-placing qualifiers can compete at NCAAs, but their school must pay for their travel and lodging at the meet.
This is huge for Virginia! Title shot is looking totally possible.
Brad is a beast! I want become Naval when I grow up! Go Naval!