AUSTIN, Texas — The LSU diving corps closed out the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Regional in Austin, Texas, Sunday with a pair of top-10 finishes on platform from men’s freshmen Daniel Helm and Sean McKinney.
Helm claimed eighth overall with a combined mark of 571.00 after finishing with a solid final-round score of 323.20. McKinney took 10th with a two-round total of 539.95.
“For where we are in our development with platform, I felt Daniel and Sean did a good job today,” co-head coach Doug Shaffer said. “They dove today to get more experience in that event competing against an elite field, and their efforts bode well moving forward.”
Texas’ Will Chandler and Missouri’s Dante Jones secured the final two qualifying spots for the 2011 NCAA Men’s Championships with their second- and third-place finishes on platform, respectively.
LSU junior Matt Vieke fell just short of qualifying for the NCAA Championships following the completion of the platform Sunday as the Indianapolis native would have been next in line for a bid and will serve as the first alternate.
“Matt made tremendous improvement throughout the season, and he’s really optimistic looking ahead after his efforts this weekend,” Shaffer added.
“We were certainly disappointed that we weren’t able to qualify anyone further, but I’m proud of our efforts, especially given our youth, and we return all of our divers for next season. It’s an elite qualifying process, and our zone regional was the deepest and most talented of any in the country.”
On the women’s side, Shelby Cullinan, Maren Taylor (Texas) and Julie Lonnegren (Houston) earned the final three NCAA bids through top-three finishes in the platform competition.
LSU will be sending nine swimmers to the 2011 NCAA Women’s Championships, which will begin Thursday in Austin. Senior Hannes Heyl and sophomore Craig Hamilton will represent the men’s program at the national meet from March 24-26 in Minneapolis.