2021 Zone D: Windle & Bacon Each Win Again On Day 2, A&M Men Add Another Diver

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.

2021 NCAA Zone Diving

• Zone A: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC
  • Thursday, March 11 – Saturday, March 13
  • Live Results
• Zone B: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC
  • Sunday, March 7 – Tuesday, March 9
  • Live Results
• Zone C: University of Kentucky / Lexington, KY
  • Sunday, March 7 – Tuesday, March 9
  • Live Results
• Zone D: University of Kentucky / Lexington, KY
  • Thursday, March 11 – Saturday, March 13
  • Live Results
• Zone E: Northern Arizona University / Flagstaff, AZ
  • Monday, March 8 – Wednesday, March 10
  • Live Results

Minnesota’s Sarah Bacon and Texas’s Jordan Windle remained undefeated through two days of the Zone D Championships. Bacon won 3-meter and Windle platform.

On the men’s side, the top four finishers were identical to yesterday’s results on 3-meter. Windle picked up the win, with LSU’s Juan Hernandez second. Two more Longhorns, Noah Duperre and Andrew Harness, were third and fourth, respectively.

The Longhorns did not quite get their fourth diver in, though – freshman Brendan McCourt was 12th with only the top 8 earning NCAA invites. In a weird quirk of the NCAA roster format, McCourt qualifying might ensure Harness actually gets to compete. Divers count as half a roster spot, and Texas is already up against the 18-man cap. Windle is a lock and might score the most individual points of any Texas athlete. That means Duperre is pretty well locked in, too, because Texas would still have half a roster spot free after cutting a swimmer for Windle.

But the final decision might come down to one swimmer vs Harness, or one swimmer vs Harness and McCourt. Texas is basically down to cutting projected swimming scorers, so while they may be willing to cut one low-end swimming scorer for two divers, the decision might be tougher between one swimming scorer and just one diver. McCourt gets his shot on 1-meter tomorrow, where the top nine will make NCAAs.

Bacon won again for the women and has now swept the springboard events in Zone D. It was mostly repeat qualifiers, though LSU added a new NCAA invite in Anne Tuxen. Nebraska’s Abigail Knapton, a big name, officially punched her ticket today after just missing the cuts yesterday.

Current Qualifiers

Reimbursed divers are in bold, with invited-but-not-reimbursed divers in non-bold. You can read more about the distinction below.

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.