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
Purdue’s Brandon Loschiavo won the men’s platform event, leading a team of three men and five women to NCAAs. Northwestern’s Olivia Rosendahl won on women’s platform, giving her three top-3 finishes on the week.
Purdue had a huge final day, qualifying three more women to bring their total to five female divers on the NCAA roster. Emily Meaney was second to clinch a reimbursement slot, and will be joined by Alexis Vincent (5th) and Emily Bretscher (8th). Purdue already had Samantha Reese and Morgan Meixner qualified.
Indiana added another diver with Mya Kraeger taking 9th, Ohio State got Lara Tarvit in in 4th place and the Michigan women will now have two divers in after Christy Cutshaw finished 6th.
On the men’s side, it was Ohio State qualifying a slew of divers. Christopher Law was already in, but took 4th on platform. Same with Stephen Romanik, who finished 8th but also got bumped into a reimbursement slot. Plus Aaron Daniels-Freeman (9th), Clay White (10th) and Jacob Siler (11th) picked up the last three qualifying spots in the Zone.
Here’s a look at the current qualifying chart:
QUALIFYING CHART
Athletes in bold have earned NCAA reimbursement.
| PRIORITY | FINISHER | WOMEN | MEN |
| 1 | 3-meter Champ | Pei Lin, MIA | Michael Hixon, IU |
| 2 | 1-meter Champ | Jessica Parratto, IU | Michael Hixon, IU |
| 3 | Platform Champ | Olivia Rosendahl, NU | Brandon Loschiavo, PUR |
| 4 | 3-meter 2nd | Jessica Parratto, IU | James Connor, IU |
| 5 | 1-meter 2nd | Olivia Rosendahl, NU | Steele Johnson, PUR |
| 6 | Platform 2nd | Emily Meaney, PUR | Steele Johnson, PUR |
| 7 | 3-meter 3rd | Olivia Rosendahl, NU | Steele Johnson, PUR |
| 8 | 1-meter 3rd | Samantha Reese, PUR | James Connor, IU |
| 9 | Platform 3rd | Jessica Parratto, IU | Andrew Capobianco, IU |
| 10 | 3-meter 4th | Molly Fears, UL | Joseph Coumous, ND |
| 11 | 1-meter 4th | Pei Lin, MIA | Joseph Cifelli, PUR |
| 12 | Platform 4th | Lara Tarvit, OSU | Christopher Law, OSU |
| 13 | 3-meter 5th | Samantha Reese, PUR | Christopher Law, OSU |
| 14 | 1-meter 5th | Talisa Lemke, BGSU |
Sebastian Masterton, UK
|
| 15 | Platform 5th | Alexis Vincent, PUR | Sebastian Masterton, UK |
| 16 | 3-meter 6th | Genevieve Angerame, OSU | Stephen Romanik, OSU |
| 17 | 1-meter 6th | Erin Isola, ND | Joseph Cuomos, ND |
| 18 | Platform 6th | Christy Cutshaw, MICH | Ross Todd, MICH |
| 19 | 3-meter 7th | Alexandra Shereda, EMU |
Sebastian Masterton, UK
|
| 20 | 1-meter 7th | Kelly Straub, ND | Andrew Capobianco, IU |
| 21 | Platform 7th | Molly Fears, UL | Chase Lane, UK |
| 22 | 3-meter 8th | Nikki Canale, MICH | Andrew Capobianco, IU |
| 23 | 1-meter 8th | Morgan Meixner, PUR | Kevin Frebel, UK |
| 24 | Platform 8th | Emily Bretscher, PUR | Stephen Romanik, OSU |
| 25 | 3-meter 9th | Talisa Lemke, BGSU | Ross Todd, MICH |
| 26 | 1-meter 9th | — | Joseph Smith, OAK |
| 27 | Platform 9th | Mya Kraeger, IU | Aaron Daniels-Freeman, OSU |
| 28 | 3-meter 10th | Morgan Meixner, PUR | Joseph Cifelli, PUR |
| 29 | 1-meter 10th | — | Stephen Romanik, OSU |
| 30 | Platform 10th | Courtney Clark, UK | Clay White, OSU |
| 31 | 3-meter 11th | — | — |
| 32 | 1-meter 11th | — | — |
| 33 | Platform 11th | — | Jacob Siler, OSU |
Take a look at the qualifying spots for each zone and each event: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.NCAA Diving QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
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 |
LOL! Yep! That’s Steele not Brandon!
Canale is from Michigan, and that makes for two divers for the women’s team.
Can someone explain to me why IU’s James Connor and Michael Hixon were not allowed to compete on the platform. They were excellent on the 1and 3 meter dives.
They aren’t really platform divers and probably just wanted to focus on springboard.