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:
With 12 women getting in on 1-meter yesterday, there wasn’t much in the way of new qualifiers through today’s 3-meter. Stanford’s trio of Carolina Sculti, Daria Lenz and Mia Paulsen each earned a second event entry, which could shake up the team points battle. Across the country, Virginia has also qualified three female divers, but Stanford has returning scorers and still probably an edge in projected diving points.
But Cal’s Briana Thai did qualify through 3-meter today. She’ll make her first NCAA trip, and though scoring is still a long ways off, it’s a boost for Cal to at least add the potential of dive points. the other new invites were Wyoming’s Karla Contreras (who was an NCAA platform scorer back in 2018) and Hawaii’s Ivy Davis.
Hawaii’s Daphne Wils won her second-straight event, and is looking like an A final contender, especially after beating returning scorer Sculti.
Men:
It was a fairly uneventful day for the men, as only four Zone E divers could earn invites on 1-meter, and all four went to divers who were already invited via 3-meter.
Henry Fusaro of USC won the event. He was an NCAA scorer way back in 2017 on 1-meter, but faded to 17th the next year and dealt with an injury last season, not competing in the post-season. His win suggests he’s back in form, and could score big for the Trojans come NCAAs.
Arizona State’s Youssef Selim was second – he was just outside NCAA scoring last year, as was Stanford’s Conor Casey. Both will get return trips this season.
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.
Fight On!