University of Illinois
NCAA Zone Diving Championships
Illini Send Pair of Divers to NCAA Zone Diving Championships
March 8, 2016 | Swimming & Diving
Jessica Clifford and Madeline Kuhn to represent Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Two Illinois divers will be heading to the NCAA Zone Championships in West Lafayette, Indiana, on March 10-12. Senior Jessica Clifford (one-meter) and freshman Madeline Kuhn (one-meter, three-meter, platform) will be competing after meeting the qualifying standards earlier this season. Sophomore Olivia Kassouni also met the qualifying standard score during the season, however she will not be competing in the event.
"Each is probably a little nervous but definitely very excited about competing too," said diving coach Chris Waters. "They've had some really good workouts leading into the meet so I'm confident they've prepared themselves well for the competition."
The championships kick off on Thursday with one-meter diving preliminaries at noon CT, followed by the finals. Friday features three-meter diving preliminaries and finals at noon CT. Competition wraps up on Saturday with prelims and finals of platform diving beginning at 10 a.m. CT.
Clifford earned the Illini's third best one-meter diving score on the season at Arkansas with a score of 269.63, as well as her season-best 276.38 in the three-meter dive at the same meet. Kuhn finished with UI's second best one-meter diving score on the season (271.73). She also had the best platform diving score out of any Illini diver with a score of 187.65, which she posted at the Big Ten Championships.
"I know they've demonstrated that they can perform each of their dives very well so I'm hoping they have a little faith in themselves too," said Waters. "It should be an exciting week in West Lafayette."
PROCEDURES
All springboard diving events will consist of a preliminary round of six optional dives, including one from each of the five groups plus an additional dive that may be selected from any group. The top 18 finishers from the preliminary round will advance to the final round and will perform a second list of six optional dives, including one from each of the five groups plus an additional dive that may be selected from any group. All dives will be performed in any order without limit on degree of difficulty. Scores on all dives performed by each of the divers in the prelims and the finals shall be used to determine finals placing.
For platform prelims, each diver will do six optional dives (men), including one from each of six groups, or five optional dives (women), including one from each of five groups, from any competitive platform level (i.e. 5, 7.5 or 10 meters), in any order, without limit on degree of difficulty. The top 18 finishers from the preliminary round will advance to the final round and will perform a second list of six optionals (men) including one from each of the six platform groups or five optionals (women) including one from each of five groups. All dives will be performed from any competitive level in any order without limit on degree of difficulty. Scores on all dives performed by each of the divers in the prelims and the finals shall be used to determine finals placing.
QUALIFYING
The top five female and top four male divers from each event at their respective zone diving meet will be eligible to compete at the NCAA Championships. Additional place finishers in each event at each zone will be eligible based on the number of student-athletes from that zone who finished in the top 16 in that event at the previous year's NCAA Championships. All eligible divers must have achieved the zone qualifying score prior to the NCAA Championships in all events they wish to participate. Zone "C" owns 12 one-meter qualifying spots, seven three-meter positions and 10 spots in the platform dive.
FOLLOW THE ILLINI
Check out FIGHTINGILLINI.com for more information about the Orange and Blue. Additionally, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more coverage. Live results can be found from: www.divemeets.com.
