2017 NCAA ZONE DIVING
- Zones A, B, D & E: Monday, March 6 – Wednesday, March 8
- Zone C: Thursday, March 9 – Saturday, March 11
- Host schools:
- Zone A: Virginia Tech
- Zone B: Auburn
- Zone C: Indiana
- Zone D: Missouri
- Zone E: Northern Arizona
- NCAA selection primer
It’s been a great postseason for the Pac-12 champion Stanford men, and another diver will join the NCAA mix after Tarek Abdelghany finished 5th on platform at Zone E’s day 3.
Stanford now has Abdelghany, Theodore Miclau, Bradley Christensen and Cameron Thatcher into NCAAs, with Miclau and Christensen earning NCAA reimbursement.
Arizona State won both platform titles, with Mara Aiacoboae taking the women’s event and Heikki Maikikallio the men’s. In other major NCAA team news, the Arizona women added two divers on day 3, and Cal’s Connor Callahan backed up his earlier NCAA berth with another 7th place finish.
Cassidy Bose became the first Boise State diver ever to make NCAAs, sneaking in with the last qualifying spot in the platform event.
| Priority | Finisher | Women | Men |
| 1 | 3-meter Champ | Maria Polyakova, UCLA | Bradley Christensen, STAN |
| 2 | 1-meter Champ | Henry Fusaro, USC | |
| 3 | Platform Champ | Mara Aiacoboae, ASU | Heikki Maikikallio, ASU |
| 4 | 3-meter 2nd | Sharae Zheng, NEV | Dashiell Enos, USC |
| 5 | 1-meter 2nd | ||
| 6 | Platform 2nd | Madison Sthamann, HAWA | Theodore Miclau, STAN |
| 7 | 3-meter 3rd | Kassidy Cook, STAN | Johan Sandell, HAWA |
| 8 | 1-meter 3rd | ||
| 9 | Platform 3rd | Eloise Belanger, UCLA | Scotia Mullin, WYO |
| 10 | 3-meter 4th | Karla Contreras, WYO | Youssef Selim, ASU |
| 11 | 1-meter 4th | David Hoffer, ASU | |
| 12 | Platform 4th | Amanda Casillas, UTAH | |
| 13 | 3-meter 5th | Annika Lenz, UCLA | |
| 14 | 1-meter 5th | Josiah Purss, UTAH | |
| 15 | Platform 5th | Tarek Abdelghany, STAN | |
| 16 | 3-meter 6th | Alexandra Caplan, SDSU | — |
| 17 | 1-meter 6th | Phoebe Lamay, CAL | |
| 18 | Platform 6th | Madison Witt, USC | |
| 19 | 3-meter 7th | — | |
| 20 | 1-meter 7th | Tatiana Kurach, NAZU | Connor Callahan, CAL |
| 21 | Platform 7th | ||
| 22 | 3-meter 8th | Ciara Monahan, UCLA | — |
| 23 | 1-meter 8th | Haley Farnsworth, STAN | Kevin Dreesen, BYU |
| 24 | Platform 8th | Karolyn Loftus, ARIZ | — |
| 25 | 3-meter 9th | — | |
| 26 | 1-meter 9th | Cameron Thatcher, STAN | |
| 27 | Platform 9th | Zoe Lei, NEV | — |
| 28 | 3-meter 10th | — | — |
| 29 | 1-meter 10th | — | |
| 30 | Platform 10th | Sally Hackett, ARIZ | — |
| 31 | 3-meter 11th | — | — |
| 32 | 1-meter 11th | — | |
| 33 | Platform 11th | Cassidy Bose, Boise St. | — |
(Athletes in bold are locked in for NCAA reimbursement. Athletes who have doubled up on qualifying spots are noted with a line through their lower priority slot.)
NCAA ZONE QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
From our refresher post, which you can find here.
Divers qualify for the NCAA Championships through Zone Meets spread across the country. Each zone earns a set number of NCAA qualifying spots based on the performances of that Zone at NCAAs in the past.
Here are the qualifying spots for each event in each zone:
WOMEN
| 1M | 3M | PLATFORM | |
| Zone A | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Zone B | 10 | 9 | 7 |
| Zone C | 8 | 9 | 6 |
| Zone D | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| Zone E | 11 | 9 | 11 |
MEN
| 1M | 3M | PLATFORM | |
| Zone A | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Zone B | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| Zone C | 5 | 7 | 7 |
| Zone D | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Zone E | 9 | 5 | 7 |
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.
| WOMEN | MEN | |
| Zone A | 5 | 5 |
| Zone B | 9 | 9 |
| Zone C | 8 | 6 |
| Zone D | 8 | 9 |
| Zone E | 11 | 6 |
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.