BATON ROUGE – The LSU diving team is sending all seven divers to the NCAA Zone D Championships with hopes of punching their tickets to the NCAA Championships. The competition is hosted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and will run from Monday through Wednesday, March 5-7.
“I’m excited for this part of our season,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer. “Everything we’ve done all year has been in preparation for the NCAA championship season. We are exactly where we need to be going into the NCAA regional and I’m excited for the opportunity for our men and women to advance to the NCAA Championships.”
The men’s team is made up of juniors Matthew Phillip and Matt McClellan, sophomore Juan Celaya-Hernandez, and freshman Dakota Hurbis.
Phillip, a native of Frisco, Texas, will be looking to reach his second NCAA Championships. Phillip placed 23rd overall on platform last season after finishing 17th at Zones.
Phillip had a great performance at the SEC Championships, reaching the finals on platform, where he finished seventh overall, setting a new personal best of 402.70 and climbing to fourth on the all-time list. Phillip also set a season-high score on one-meter, and finished 14th overall.
McClellan competed in all three events at last season’s NCAA Championships, finishing 36th on three-meter, 41st on platform, and 42nd on one-meter.
At the SEC Championships, McClellan finished 14th on one-meter, 19th on platform, and 24th on three-meter.
Celaya-Hernandez is currently putting together some of the best lists of his career, and it showed at the SEC Championships. Celaya-Hernandez walked away an SEC Champion on both one-meter and platform, setting a new school record on one-meter with a score of 479.10 and winning SEC Diver of the Meet in the process.
Like McClellan, Celaya-Hernandez qualified for all three events at the 2017 NCAA Championships after winning both springboards and taking second on platform at last season’s Zone Championships. After finishing third on three-meter and ninth on one-meter at the NCAA Championships, Celaya-Hernandez will be aiming even higher this time around.
Freshman Dakota Hurbis will be aiming to make his first appearance at the NCAA Championships. At the SEC Championships, Hurbis took 21st on platform, 25th on one-meter, and 28th on three-meter.
The women’s team is made up of juniors Lizzie Cui and Rileigh Knox, in addition to sophomore Makayla Robillard.
Cui is the only woman with experience at the NCAA Championships. Last season, Cui notched a fifth-place finish on one-meter, and took 17th on both three-meter and platform.
Cui also made the finals in all three events at last month’s SEC Championships. The highlight of the meet was her second-place finish on one-meter, scoring a season-high 330.00. Cui also finished fourth on three-meter and seventh on platform.
Knox and Robillard will be looking to make the NCAA Championships for the first time in their careers. Knox, a junior from Windermere, Florida, dove to 19th place on both springboards at the SEC Championships. Robillard finished 13th on one-meter, 21st on platform, and 26th on three-meter. Robillard did manage to set a new season-high on platform, scoring a 205.25.
The Zone ‘D’ region consists of divers from LSU, Iowa State, South Dakota State, SMU, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Houston, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Omaha, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Incarnate Word, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee.
Live stats will be on divemeets.com throughout the meet.
For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LSUswimdive.
Order of Events (11 a.m. start time):
Monday, March 5:
Women’s 1m
Men’s 3m
Tuesday, March 6:
Men’s 1m
Women’s 3m
Wednesday, March 7
Men’s platform
Women’s platform