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

2024 WOMEN’S NCAA SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• March 20-23, 2024
• Gabrielsen Natatorium, Athens, Georgia
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
• Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

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.