ATHENS, Ga. — Six LSU divers attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championships as the three-day NCAA Zone B Diving Regional gets underway Friday from Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Friday’s schedule features the women’s 3-meter and men’s 1-meter beginning at 11 a.m. CST. The women compete in the 1-meter on Saturday, followed by the men’s 3-meter. Platform competition concludes the meet at 9 a.m. CST Sunday.
There are five Zone competitions going on this weekend, and the top 35 men and the top 41 women will advance to the NCAA Championships. Eight of those men and 11 of those women will come from Zone B. Other regionals are taking place at Rutgers, Oklahoma City Community College, Texas and Michigan.
Those women who earn an NCAA berth head to the Women’s NCAA Championships next weekend in Minneapolis, Minn. The Men’s NCAA Championships take place March 15-17 at the same venue.
“Our training all year long has been exceptional,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “We’ve grown after every competition, and I am proud of the accomplishments all the divers have made up to this point. I am confident and optimistic we will do well.”
Hali Saucier looks to reach her first NCAA Championships after putting together a remarkable senior season in which she set the LSU 3-meter springboard record (340.50). She ranks second in school history in the 1-meter (321.37) and just last month, became a triple finalist at the Southeastern Conference Championships.
Saucier just missed qualifying for NCAAs last season with a sixth-place finish in the 1-meter and eighth-place scores in the 3-meter and platform.
Rachel Ware enters the meet after being named the SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year following the SEC Championships. Ware reached championship finals in two of her three events in helping the women’s team to an overall runner-up finish.
Junior Paige Brown brings confidence into the meet as well after medaling in the platform competition at SECs. Brown, who finished third in the event, posted career-high scores in all three events at the conference meet.
Sophomore Nathan Schreiber leads the men’s team into the weekend. Schreiber was a finalist in the 1-meter at Zones last season and attempts to be the third straight men’s diver to reach the national competition.
Senior Andrew Keane brings a strength in platform, and freshman Kalister Harmon competes in his first Zone competition.
Shaffer has helped qualify at least one male and female diver in each of his four previous seasons. Seven divers have gone on to the NCAA Championships, and nine All-America honors have been gathered.
“We are definitely in a position to continue our success,” said Shaffer. “I have been fortunate to work with talented athletes. You have to have a situation where the athlete and the coach are working together.”
Junior Niko Dalman earned All-America honors for the second straight season in 2006. Dalman, who is receiving a medical redshirt for an injury this season, qualified for NCAAs with a third-place finish in the 3-meter at the 2006 NCAA Zone B meet.