LSU Sweeps Day One of NCAA Zone ‘D’ Regional

MINNEAPOLIS – Lizzie Cui and Juan Celaya-Hernandez won their respective events and ensured qualification to the NCAA Championships on day one of the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Championships.

“Lizzie and Juan were excellent today in their respective wins today,” explained LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer. “they were very solid and put together very consistent lists. I loved the way they competed and I’m excited because they haven’t peaked yet and I believe their best performances are yet to come.”

The day started with the women’s one-meter, where Cui finished the prelims in third place, diving to a score of 310.35 and a place in the finals. In the finals, Cui overcame a 25.25 point deficit to Minnesota’s Sarah Bacon and posted a two-list score of 631.00.

With the win, Cui locked up a spot at the NCAA Championships next week, and a top-12 finish in the three-meter or platform will be good enough for her to compete in those events as well.

Sophomore Makayla Robillard and junior Rileigh Knox just missed out on the 18-woman finals. Robillard finished with a score of 260.25, which was good for 20th place, while Knox finished 22nd with a score of 258.15.

“Rileigh and Makayla competed well,” said Shaffer. “They were in the game all along but had one round each where they fell short, which left them out of the final.”

In the men’s three-meter, sophomore Juan Celaya-Hernandez finished the prelims in first place, scoring a 452.70 and jumping out to a 21.85 point lead. Celaya-Hernandez was able to maintain that lead a post a two- list score of 888.70.

Like Cui, a top-12 finish in the one-meter and platform will allow him to participate in those events at the NCAA Championships.

Junior Matt McClellan also made the finals of the men’s three-meter. After sitting in seventh at the end of the prelims with a season-high score of 384.90, McClellan ended ninth overall with a score of 748.40, just one spot outside of NCAA qualification.

“Matt was so close to qualifying for NCAA’s,” said Shaffer. “He put together his best list of the year today.”

Matthew Phillip missed out on the finals by just .3 points, finishing 19th with a score of 323.20. Freshman Dakota Hurbis finished 26th overall, posting a score of 263.75.

“Dakota competed very well but had a rather large mishap in the last round where his legs buckled, but I’m still excited with the way he’s developing,” said Shaffer.

The meet continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT, where the women will move up to three-meter while the men take on the one-meter.

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Order of Events (11 a.m. start time):

Tuesday, March 6:

Men’s 1m

Women’s 3m

 

Wednesday, March 7

Men’s platform

Women’s platform