ATHENS, Ga. — Seven LSU divers are set to compete in the Zone B Diving Championships on Friday to earn a trip to the 2001 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The Zone B Regional event begins at 6 a.m. (Central time) here at the Ramsey Student Center in Athens, Ga.
“This is a huge opportunity for our divers,” said LSU head diving coach Scott Reich. “Last season, we had three divers qualify for the NCAA Championships, and this year we hope to even surpass that number. I’m extremely proud of the way that they have performed throughout the season, and I’m looking forward to seeing them excel this weekend.”
Four Lady Tiger divers are scheduled to compete in the two-day meet, including defending National Champions, Ashley Culpepper and Jamie Watkins.
Culpepper, LSU’s senior from Austin, Texas, won the 2000 National Championship in the 3-meter springboard diving event, while Watkins earned the nation’s 1-meter diving title. Last season, Culpepper was named both the Southeastern Conference and National Diver of the Year. Watkins already claimed the 2001 SEC Diver of the Year award and hopes to qualify for the national award at the 2001 NCAA Championships being held in East Meadow, New York.
The Lady Tigers’ Barb Gorst and Michelle Coryell will also be competing on Friday, along with LSU men’s divers Corey Fox, Erik Petursson, and Kyle VanArsdall. Fox and Petursson have each competed in the NCAA Championships during their four-year careers as Tigers. Fox will be trying for his third-straight NCAA Championship appearance, while Petursson looks to repeat his 1999 Zone B Championship performance in which he qualified for the national event as a sophomore.
“Of course our big-four divers: Ashley (Culpepper), Jamie (Watkins), Corey (Fox), and Erik (Petursson) have great chances to qualify this weekend,” Reich said. “But I think that Barb (Gorst), Michelle (Coryell), and Kyle (VanArsdall) also have good chances at making the NCAA’s. Any one of our divers can qualify if they have a good day off of the board.”
The Zone B Championships are used for qualifying for the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships. Each diver used scores throughout the season to qualify for the zone meet. Fourty of the nation’s best divers representing 11 schools will compete in the event, including the University of Miami’s 2000 Olympian, Jenny Keim.
Action begins with both the men’s 1-meter competition and women’s 3-meter event on Friday, March 9, at 6 a.m. (Central time) in the Ramsey Student Center on the campus of the University of Georgia.