Day One Zone D Championships Go To Pozdniakova and Livingston

Houston: Anastasia Pozdniakova Wins 3-Meter Diving Event at Zone D Championships
University of Houston diver Anastasia Pozdniakova won the 3-meter diving event on the first day of the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships held in Columbia, Mo. in convincing fashion. Courtney Forcucci and Jessalyn Almond also competed in Friday’s event.
 
Pozdniakova, who won 2009 C-USA Diver of the Meet, finished first in the 3-meter springboard event with 763.55 points, a margin of 114.25 over the second-place finisher Jessica Livingston from Texas. She broke her individual and program record of 740.30 set in 2007 at the Zone D Diving Championships held in Austin, Texas. She was also the only diver to surpass 700 points.
 
In 2007, Pozdniakova won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
 
Forcucci finished ninth in the event with personal-best 581.10 points, while Almond took 16th with 519.65 points.
 
Next Up
The Women’s 1-meter event is slated to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The platform competition is on Sunday at 10 a.m.
 
Iowa State: Divers Compete in Zone Diving Meet
Iowa State divers Tien Tran and Kali Fryklund began the 2009 NCAA Zone D Championships on 3-meter Friday. Tran finished 19th out of 28 competitors (243.25) and Fryklund took 22nd (227.60).

The divers will resume competition tomorrow when they compete on 1-meter. Action begins at 2:30 p.m.

Kansas: Senior McMacken Leads Kansas at the NCAA Diving Zones
Kansas diving completed the three meter competition at the first day of the NCAA 'D' Diving Zones in Columbia, Mo.  Senior Hannah McMacken led the trio of Kansas divers with a 12th place finish, with 549.65 points.

The competition had 28 divers, of which 18 qualified for the event finals.  All three Jayhawk divers qualified for the three-meter finals, and would finish within an eye-shot of each other.

The University of Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova won the competition with 763.55 points, over 110 points better than second-place.  McMacken placed 12th with 549.65 points.  Sophomore Erin Mertz placed 14th with 526.05 points, while junior Meghan Proehl earned a 15th place finish with 519.65 points.

SMU: Yancey Qualifies For NCAA Diving Championships In Three-Meter
SMU men's and women's diving competed at the University of Missouri in the Zone D qualifying meet on Friday, March 13 for a chance to qualify in the NCAA Championships, in which junior women's diver Britney Yancey collected a qualifying score of 607.95 for a fourth place finish in the three-meter springboard.

Women's sophomore diver Audra Egenolf finished less than one point behind Yancey in fifth place, narrowly missing qualification with a score of 607.00. On the men's side, sophomore Matthew Culbertson dove in the one-meter springboard where he earned 597.30 points and finished 11th.

"It was a great day for SMU diving; everyone dove very well and Britney and Audra's performances were tremendous. Tomorrow, Matt will compete in the three-meter, a stronger event for him," said Conference USA Diving Coach of the Year Jim Stillson.

The Mustangs will continue competition on Saturday with the women competing in the one-meter and the men in the three-meter.

Texas: Livingston nails down NCAA Men’s Championships berth at NCAA Zone Diving Meet
University of Texas freshman diver Drew Livingston captured the 17-diver men’s one-meter event to clinch a berth in the NCAA Championships Friday afternoon at the NCAA Zone “D” Diving Meet at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. 

Livingston secured his NCAA Championships berth by winning the one-meter event with 752.10 points.  Senior Jonathan Wilcox took sixth with 690.30 points, and sophomore Matt Cooper placed seventh with 659.60 points.  Sophomore Matt Cardell took eighth with 631.20 points, and junior Mike Wong placed 10th with 598.10 points. 

Under the NCAA Championships qualification criteria for divers, Livingston and Texas A&M’s Eric Sehn, by way of his second-place finish on Friday, have qualified from Zone “D” for the NCAA Championships.  Only three men’s qualifying bids remain from Zone “D”.  Texas’ Wilcox, Cooper, Cardell and Wong would earn a NCAA Championships berth should any of them either win or place second in Saturday’s three-meter competition. 

In addition, should Livingston or Sehn place first or second on the three-meter board, Wilcox, Cooper, Cardell or Wong could secure a NCAA berth by placing third in the three-meter event.  
 
Texas: Jessica Livingston secures NCAA Championships bid at NCAA Zone Diving Meet
University of Texas senior diver Jessica Livingston secured a berth in the upcoming NCAA Championships by taking second in the women’s three-meter event at the NCAA Zone “D” Diving Meet Friday at the Mizzou Aquatics Center.

Livingston wasted little time in earning one of 10 NCAA Championships bids up for grabs at the zone meet, as she took second with 649.30 points.  Under the NCAA Championships selection criteria for divers, and given the 10 NCAA qualifying bids available, the top-four finishers in the three-meter event were guaranteed a spot to compete at the NCAA Championships.  The 2007 NCAA platform diving champion who redshirted during the 2008 season, Livingston is assured of a third NCAA appearance as a Longhorn after competing at Minnesota during her freshman season.  Earlier in the day, Texas freshman diver Drew Livingston – Jessica’s brother – qualified for the UT men in the one-meter event at the zone meet. 

Freshman Shelby Cullinan took seventh in Friday’s women’s three-meter event with 590.35 points.  Cullinan would secure a NCAA Championships berth by placing in the top four in Saturday’s one-meter event.  Still, Cullinan could potentially land a NCAA berth on Saturday if she finishes outside of the top four in the one-meter event, depending on the performances Saturday of Friday’s three-meter qualifiers – Texas’ Jessica Livingston, Houston’s Anastasia Pozdniakova, Texas A&M’s Jaele Patrick and SMU’s Britney Yancey.  The final six qualifiers from Zone “D” will be determined Saturday and Sunday. 

Texas A&M: Patrick Earns NCAA Berth at Zone D Diving Championships
Texas A&M sophomore diver Jaele Patrick (Lilydale, Victoria, Australia) punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships in College Station next weekend thanks to a third-place performance on the three-meter springboard at the Zone D Diving Championships on Friday.
 
Patrick finished third comfortably on the three-meter with a score of 624.85. The only two divers to beat Patrick on Friday were the only two that had surpassed her in any competition since she arrived in Aggieland during the winter break. Olympic medalist Anastasia Pozdniakova of Houston won the competition with a score of 763.55 while 2007 NCAA champion Jessica Livingston of Texas was second at 649.30.
 
All four of A&M’s female divers finished in the top 18 among the 28 diver field at the Zone D meet. Big 12 finalist Lorena Lujan (San Antonio) was the Aggies’ next best finisher after Patrick, taking 11th after totaling up 565.25 points. Sophomore Emily Watson (Frisco) finished two spots behind Lujan after racking up a score of 545.40. Junior Haley Haynes (The Woodlands) placed 18th with a total of 495.70.
 
With Patrick earning a spot to the NCAA Championships, that gives the Aggies a total of 14 athletes qualified for the year’s most important meet. Sophomore Melanie Dodds (Maple Ridge, B.C.) has moved from third alternate to second alternate for the NCAA meet in the past week meaning she still has an outside shot at giving the Aggies a 15th athlete. The NCAA maximum number of athletes eligible to qualify for the NCAA meet for any given school is 18. A&M’s current total of 14 is already a school record.
 
The Zone D Diving Championships will continue on Saturday with the one-meter springboard which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Mizzou Aquatic Center. All four Aggie divers will compete in hopes of improving their position in the formulaic order for qualifying for the NCAA Championships.