Zeng Completes Zone B Sweep, UGA Women Add One Diver On Day 3

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.

2018 NCAA ZONE DIVING

• Zones A, B, D, E: Monday, March 5 – Wednesday, March 7
• Zone C: Thursday, March 8 – Saturday, March 10
• Host schools:
  • Zone A: Rutgers University
  • Zone B: University of Tennessee
  • Zone C: Ohio State University
  • Zone D: University of Minnesota
  • Zone E: Northern Arizona University
• NCAA selection primer

Tennessee’s Colin Zeng completed an elusive sweep of all three diving events at the Zone B Championships. Meanwhile Georgia’s women added a third diver to their roster.

Zone B results

Zeng won on platform to give him a sweep of all three events in the zone. Second went to NC State’s James Brady, who was already in line for a reimbursement slot but now moves up in the overall priority chart.

Tennessee’s Rachel Rubadue won on the women’s side, giving the Vols four wins in six events on the week. Behind her, Georgia’s Freida Lim finished 3rd to make NCAAs as Georgia’s highest finisher. She’ll join Olivia Ball and McKensi Austin on the Bulldog national team roster.

QUALIFYING CHART

Athletes in bold have earned NCAA reimbursement.

There are five zone meets spread across the country that allow divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Based on performances at the previous NCAAs each zone earns a set number of qualifying spots.NCAA Diving QUALIFYING PROCEDURES

Take a look at the qualifying spots for each zone and each event:

WOMEN

MEN

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.

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.