2020 Zone A: Buchter Wins By 35, Virginia Men & Women Qualify Divers On Day 1

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.

2020 NCAA Zone Diving

• Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 9 – Wednesday, March 13
• Zone C: Thursday, March 12 – Saturday, March 14
• Host schools, with live result links:
  • Zone A: West Virginia University (Results)
  • Zone B: University of Georgia (Results)
  • Zone C: University of Kentucky (Results)
  • Zone D: Southern Methodist University (Results)
  • Zone E: University of Utah (Results)
• Revisit our NCAA selection primer

Women:

The Virginia women hold the most swimming points on scored-out NCAA psych sheets, and now they’ll add a diver to the mix as well.

Sydney Dusel qualified for NCAAs on day 1 of the Zone A Championships, taking second on the 1-meter springboard. Zone A is a relatively thin zone in diving, so Dusel won’t project as a scorer yet, but it’s a major step in the right direction for the senior, who qualified for NCAAs as a freshman and sophomore, but didn’t compete at Zones in her junior year. Dusel’s best NCAA finish has been 21st.

Virginia Tech’s Teagan Moravek won the 1-meter event. The sophomore will make her first NCAA appearance this season, courtesy of her big Zones win. Moravek scored 618.00 points, beating Dusel by about seven and a half.

Men:

Navy’s returning NCAA scorer Bradley Buchter won 1-meter by almost 36 points in Zone A to lock in a return NCAA trip. Buchter was 13th at NCAAs last year, and with a dominating win in West Virginia, he’ll get a chance to chase an A final appearance later this month.

Zone A is relatively thin on qualifying spots, but Virginia did get Ian Shelton into the meet with a second-place finish. Shelton was 36th at NCAAs last year and Virginia Tech’s Noah Zawadzki 41st.

Current Qualifiers

Simplified Invite Procedures

You can read a more in-depth look at the selection process here. Effectively, each Zone earns a specific number of qualifying spots in each event, based on how that Zone performed at NCAAs last year. Divers who place inside the qualifying places earn an NCAA invite. A diver invited in one event can compete at NCAAs in any other diving event where they were top 12 in their Zone meet. The highest-placing divers earn NCAA reimbursement, while lower-placing qualifiers can compete at NCAAs, but their school must pay for their travel and lodging at the meet.