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.
2019 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 11 – Wednesday, March 13
- Zone C: Thursday, March 14 – Saturday, March 16
- Host schools with live results links:
- Zone A: U.S. Naval Academy – Annapolis, MD
- Zone B: Auburn University – Auburn, AL
- Zone C: Purdue University – West Lafayette, IN
- Zone D: University of Texas – Austin, TX
- Zone E: Northern Arizona University – Flagstaff, AZ
- Revisit our NCAA selection primer
The Texas Longhorn men qualified all three of their returning NCAA diving scorers to the 2019 NCAA meet this morning through the Zone D Championships in Austin.
The first day of Zones features the 1-meter springboard for men. At NCAAs last year, Texas last year scored Jordan Windle in fifth place, Grayson Campbell in eighth and Jacob Cornish in tenth. All three have qualified for NCAAs again this year. Campbell was third, Windle fourth and Cornish eighth at the Zone D meet. In addition, Reed Merritt finished 11th for Texas. That doesn’t qualify him for NCAAs, but since he finished in the top 12, he’s eligible to dive this event at NCAAs if he qualifies in one of the other two events the next two days.
LSU’s Juan Hernandez won the men’s 1-meter at Zone Ds this year. Hernandez was seventh at NCAAs a year ago.
In other team news, the Texas A&M men qualified two men – returning A finalist Sam Thornton and returning NCAA qualifier Kurtis Mathews.
On the women’s side, Texas qualified three to NCAAs. Samantha Bromberg was second overall on 3-meter, with Alison Gibson third. Meghan O’Brien wound up 8th. Zone D is the top zone this year, holding the most qualification spots, and all 12 of the NCAA-eligible finishers on 3-meter will earn official invites.
Bromberg was an A finalist on 3-meter at NCAAs last year, finishing sixth. Gibson was a B finalist and scorer. O’Brien was also an NCAA qualifier last year. Bringing all three of those divers back is a big boost for the Texas women, who are in line to contend for a top 4 (or higher) finish at NCAAs.
Kansas senior Vicky Xu – a new addition to the roster this year – won the event by 11 over Bromberg. Xu should be a top contender for the NCAA title this year. The defending NCAA champ is Arkansas sophomore Brooke Schultz, who finished fourth in Zone competition. Bromberg and Minnesota’s Sarah Bacon (sixth today) are the other returning A finalists.
Other schools with multiple women’s qualifiers: Minnesota (two qualifiers), Iowa (two) and LSU (2)
Current Qualifiers
Simplified Qualifying Procedures
Each zone earns a certain number of NCAA qualifying spots based on how that zone has performed at NCAAs in the past. Each of the three diving events will have its own number of qualifiers from each zone.
If a diver is invited in one event, they can compete at NCAAs in any other event where they finish top 12 in their zone.
Reimbursement vs invited slots don’t mean much from a spectator perspective – both can compete at NCAAs. Reimbursement slots earn NCAA reimbursement to cover the athlete’s trip to NCAAs, while invited athletes are eligible to compete, but would have to travel to the meet on the school’s dime.
Here are the qualifying allotments per zone and the reimbursement spots per zone:
QUALIFYING SPOTS PER ZONE
| WOMEN’S | 1M | 3M | PLATFORM | MEN’S | 1M | 3M | PLATFORM |
| Zone A | 6 | 5 | 5 | Zone A | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Zone B | 9 | 8 | 6 | Zone B | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| Zone C | 9 | 8 | 12 | Zone C | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| Zone D | 9 | 12 | 9 | Zone D | 9 | 11 | 9 |
| Zone E | 8 | 8 | 9 | Zone E | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Reimbursement Spots Per Zone
| Women | Men | |
| Zone A | 5 | 5 |
| Zone B | 6 | 7 |
| Zone C | 10 | 8 |
| Zone D | 8 | 10 |
| Zone E | 11 | 5 |
I’m so proud of Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team… whose swim team is so strong that they qualified more swimmers Than any team in the NCAA. Fact. I’m so proud of the divers who continue to bring it. Watching them perform is amazing!
Way to go texas divers!!!! Hook’em Horns!!!
Diving is lame. It belongs with gymnastics. I’ll gladly take the heat for everyone else afraid to say it.
Its as different as water polo. Isn’t diving counted separately at the international level?
Is there a chance Texas will have to leave someone who qualified for ncaa at home?
They’ll have to. They have 17 that will be invited.
Fairly likely. 3 divers count for 2 roster spots (divers count as half a roster spot). NCAA roster limit is 18. Texas could have 18 or so swimmers get in, though quite a few of their guys are on the bubble after some last chance meets. If they qualify more than 16 swimmers, they’ll have to choose between swimmers and divers – and they’ll probably choose to take the divers, all of whom are likely scorers.
Isn’t the enter deadline today? So they had to decide before or can they scratch swimmers afterwards?
They can scratch swimmers afterwards – then the NCAA will pull from the alternate list to fill the spots.
Swammer – no, they can always scratch swimmers later.
Texas DIVING and swimming!!
Texas wins the NCAA swimming & DIVING national championship because they have the best swimmers & DIVERS it is a team effort and the best TEAM should win
Great for TEXAS! Diving is a phenomenal part of our NCAA Sport of Swimming and Diving. So glad this University engages fully in our sport. I root for the “swim” teams heavy laden with great divers which add considerably to their NCAA Chances like Texas, Indiana and Tennessee.
Lmao this is an ultra Cal subtweet.