Virginia’s Elizabeth Kaye Becomes First Diver In Program History To Final At NCAAs

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Virginia’s Elizabeth Kaye made school history on the first day of diving competition in Athens, Georgia as she qualified for the B final of the 1 meter event. She now becomes the first Virginia diver in school history to make a final.

Kaye had the 13th-highest score this morning with a 277.80 to advance to the ‘B’ final that will be contested this afternoon.

Last year, Kaye was close to making history by making a ‘B’ final as she finished 17th in the 1 meter in a score of a 266.95, just 0.70 points off of 16th in prelims. She also was close to making the ‘B’ final last year in the 3 meter event as she scored a 302.80 for 17th.

After qualifying for the meet at Zone Diving last week, Virginia had a decision to make. After originally having 19 swimmers fast enough to make the cutline, the team had to automatically drop a swimmer to bring their roster to the NCAA roster limit of 18 athletes. Under this limit, swimmers count as 1 and divers count as 1/2. Kaye made NCAAs in all three diving events this year as she finished 2nd in the 1 meter, won the 3 meter, and was 3rd in the platform event at Zones.

With Kaye’s qualification, the Cavaliers decided to drop another swimmer from their roster. That swimmer was Ella Bathurst who earned an invite as she was the #34 seed in the 400 IM. With the tradeoff, Virginia could have brought two divers, (with divers counting as 1/2) but they did not have another diver at zones.

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Swimdad4
7 months ago

I must have missed the SwimSwam article about Aranza Matanno winning the 1 meter Diving tonight by 24 points. I guess the article about her was lost to highlight yet another article about UVA’s greatness.

Congrats to Elizabeth Kaye on your great day on the boards.

Swimmer
Reply to  Swimdad4
7 months ago

Ahh you’re looking for DiveDove

NCAAs will be closer this year
7 months ago

There is only an A final and 9-16 place scoring. 9-16 do not get a second round diving.

Swammer11
Reply to  NCAAs will be closer this year
7 months ago

No, 9-16 do a consolation final. Lizzy scored 300.3 and finished 10th overall, moving up 3 spots from prelims.

Last edited 7 months ago by Swammer11
CavaDore
7 months ago

It’s been a long time coming…good for her! It’s not easy to overcome the monkey on your back of two dreaded 17th place finishes. Barrier-breaking moments like this at NCs are always fun to witness. Bravo

jablo
7 months ago

looks like it was likely the right move!

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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