LEXINGTON, Ky. — Five members of the LSU diving team competed at the Zone B NCAA Diving Regional held on Friday at the Lancaster Aquatic Center in Lexington, Ky.
The competition ends on Saturday evening, and will qualify 25 men for the NCAA Championships held later this month. Friday’s portion of the meet included the women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter events. The top five in each event will advance to the NCAA’s. Two LSU men competed in the 3-meter diving, and three from LSU dove on the women’s side. Junior Kyle Van Arsdall placed 21st with a score of 278.20, and fellow junior Jace Pitre finished 24th with a score of 269.40. Miami’s Kyle Prandi won the competition with a score of 589.60. Kentucky’s Clayton Moss, the 2002 Southeastern Conference Diver of the Year, finished in fifth place with a score of 540.10.
Lady Tiger All-American Jamie Watkins just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 1-meter competition, finishing sixth with a score of 271.95. Barb Gorst placed 12th with a score of 261.05 and Holly Winters finished 27th with a score of 218.45. The Tigers were without freshman Jessica Wantz, and All-American Michelle Coryell, who are both nursing injuries.
“This is a very tough competition here this weekend, and we are without two of our best divers, so we will just have to try to qualify with what we have,” said LSU head diving coach Scott Reich. “I think we have a really good group of divers here, so we will go out there tomorrow and see what we can do.”
The competition wraps up on Saturday with the women’s 3-meter and men’s 1-meter events beginning at 10 a.m. The men’s platform follows at 3:30 p.m., and then the women’s platform will begin at 6 p.m. to finish up the meet.