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.
2018 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 5 – Wednesday, March 7
- Zone C: Thursday, March 8 – Saturday, March 10
- Host schools:
- Zone A: Rutgers University
- Zone B: University of Tennessee
- Zone C: Ohio State University
- Zone D: University of Minnesota
- Zone E: Northern Arizona University
- NCAA selection primer
The USC Trojan men added a third diver to their NCAA roster on day 2 of the Zone E Championships.
Dylan Marin was third on 1-meter to book his ticket to NCAAs, joining last night’s champ Dashiell Enos and Henry Fusaro. Arizona State’s Youssef Selim won the 1-meter event today, earning a reimbursement bid, though he was already qualified for the meet after day 1.
Nevada’s Sharae Zheng won her second straight title, taking 3-meter after winning 1-meter on day 1. Runner-up Eloise Belanger also repeated in a day full of repeat NCAA qualifiers. Stanford’s Kassidy Cook was third, earning a reimbursement bid.
QUALIFYING CHART
Athletes in bold have earned NCAA reimbursement.
| Priority | Finisher | Women | Men |
| 1 | 3-meter Champ | Sharae Zheng, NEV | Dashiell Enos, USC |
| 2 | 1-meter Champ | Sharae Zheng, NEV | Youssef Selim, ASU |
| 3 | Platform Champ | ||
| 4 | 3-meter 2nd | Eloise Belanger, UCLA | Tarek Abdelghany, STAN |
| 5 | 1-meter 2nd | Eloise Belanger, UCLA | Johan Sandell, HAWA |
| 6 | Platform 2nd | ||
| 7 | 3-meter 3rd | Kassidy Cook STAN | Henry Fusaro, USC |
| 8 | 1-meter 3rd | Frida Kaellgren, ASU | Dylan Marin, USC |
| 9 | Platform 3rd | ||
| 10 | 3-meter 4th | Ashley McCool, ASU | Youssef Selim, ASU |
| 11 | 1-meter 4th | Kassidy Cook, STAN | Dashiell Enos, USC |
| 12 | Platform 4th | ||
| 13 | 3-meter 5th | Alexandra Caplan, SDSU | Theodore Miclau, STAN |
| 14 | 1-meter 5th | Zoe Lei, NEV | Nathan Gonzalez, BYU |
| 15 | Platform 5th | ||
| 16 | 3-meter 6th | Karla Contreras, WYO | Johan Sandell, HAWA |
| 17 | 1-meter 6th | Delaney Schnell, ARIZ | — |
| 18 | Platform 6th | ||
| 19 | 3-meter 7th | Frida Kaellgren, ASU | Connor Callahan, CAL |
| 20 | 1-meter 7th | Ashley McCool, ASU | — |
| 21 | Platform 7th | ||
| 22 | 3-meter 8th | Mykayla Fielding, UNLV | — |
| 23 | 1-meter 8th | Phoebe Lamay, CAL | — |
| 24 | Platform 8th | — | |
| 25 | 3-meter 9th | Delaney Schnell, ARIZ | — |
| 26 | 1-meter 9th | Karla Contreras, WYO | — |
NCAA Diving QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
There are five zone meets spread across the country that allow divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Based on performances at the previous NCAAs each zone earns a set number of qualifying spots.
Take a look at the qualifying spots for each zone and each event:
WOMEN
| WOMEN | ELIGIBILITY | ||
| 1m | 3m | Platform | |
| Zone A | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Zone B | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Zone C | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Zone D | 11 | 9 | 9 |
| Zone E | 9 | 9 | 8 |
MEN
| MEN | ELIGIBILITY | ||
| 1m | 3m | Platform | |
| Zone A | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Zone B | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Zone C | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Zone D | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| Zone E | 5 | 7 | 7 |
A priority chart determines who gets the reimbursement spots. The first priority spot is taken by the winner of each event beginning with the 3-meter champ, followed by the 1-meter champ and then the platform champ. If an athlete wins two events, they will still only take up one slot which means the NCAA will keep adding rows to this chart until the zone meet reimbursement quota is met.
According to the rules set in 2015 that allowed more divers into the meet, any diver who lands in the qualifying spots for their zone earns a spot to compete in the NCAA Championships. If the diver earns eligibility in one event, they can automatically compete in any of the other two events at NCAAs as long as they finished in the top 12 in their zone in that event.
The NCAA made a distinction between “eligible” and “reimbursed” athletes. Divers qualifying outside of the reimbursement spots will not have their travel, lodging, or meet expenses covered by the NCAA. Instead the individual school must decide if they’re willing to pay the bill themselves to give that diver an opportunity to participate in the NCAA Championships.
| REIMBURSEMENT | ||
| Women | Men | |
| Zone A | 4 | 4 |
| Zone B | 6 | 7 |
| Zone C | 10 | 10 |
| Zone D | 12 | 9 |
| Zone E | 9 | 5 |
My question is if Stanford will give up 1 swimmer on the women’s side or 1 diver, or will they want 2 divers (maybe that is not even enough)?
When will we know this?
I know how this would impact the alternates for the swimming, but how does it work for the diving if Stanford chooses not to bring their diver(s)?
I leave it to more knowledgeable people to weigh in on this, but I’ve noticed that Zone D seems much tougher than Zone E, at least assuming scores are reasonably apples to apples across judges at each zone (they may not be). For example, Texas Jacob Cornish got 7th on 1M at Zone D with 712.60. That score would have put him in 2nd (by a lot) in Zone E (Cal’s Zone), which was won in 747.75, with second in 676.95. On the 3M, Texas Campbell was 2nd in 869.35 and Windle was 4th in 808.35, while Cal’s Callahan, who qualified for NCs by finishing 7th at 666.05, would have been been 17th at Zone D.
Again, don’t know… Read more »
Scores don’t transfer over super well, since the judges are different for each Zone. In general, you can tell a “tough” zone by how many qualifying spots they get. A zone that does better at NCAAs get more qualifying spots for the next season than a zone that doesn’t do well. While that doesn’t account well for graduations and outgoing transfers, it does give you a sense of how a zone matches up to other zones historically.