Bruins’ Schofield Top Platform Diver In Zone E
Air Force: Competition Concludes at 2009 NCAA?Zone E?Diving Regionals
Junior Kyle Van Valkenburg (Tucson,?Ariz.) claimed a seventh-place finish in the men’s platform dive to lead Air Force on the final day of the 2009 NCAA?Zone E Diving Regionals, being held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center, on the campus of the University of Texas.
Van Valkenburg, a two-time Mountain West Conference champion on the platform, posted a score of 312.65 in the opening round before finishing with a mark of 596.00. His seventh-place showing is one spot higher than his finish at last year’s zone meet and the best finish for a Falcon since Brady Lindberg placed fifth on the men’s platform in 2006.
Michele Benedetti of Arizona defended his zone title in the men’s platform, while UCLA’s Tess Schofield captured first place in the women’s platform. Benedetti, who also won yesterday’s 3-meter event, registered a score of 789.95 to take first place, while USC’s Steven Starks (709.70) and Stanford’s Brent Eichenseer (681.00) finished second and third, respectively.
Schofield, the Zone E platform champion in 2007, notched a score of 476.90 to earn the title on the women’s side, followed by Carmen?Stellar of Stanford in second place with 468.25 points. Meanwhile, Victoria Ishimatsu notched her third top-three showing of the week, finishing third with a mark of 456.95.
At the conclusion of the meet, the NCAA qualifiers from?Zone E?were named.?Earning spots for the men were Benedetti, Starks and Eichenseer, along with Dwight Dumais (Stanford), Ben Grado (Arizona) and Harrison Jones (USC). On the women’s side, Schofield, Stellar and Ishimatsu were all named qualifiers, along with Emma Friesen (Hawaii), Marisa Samaniego (UCLA), Margaret Hostage (Stanford) and Candice Minette (Nevada).
Utah Diving Finishes Last Day of NCAA Zone E Diving Championships
Utah’s Kwan Ling Yu (Yuen Long, Hong Kong) finished in the top 10 in the platform dive on Saturday in the final event of the Zone E Diving Championships. Yu was the only student-athlete competing for Utah in the event.
In only her second performance in the platform dive all season, Yu scored 199.05 in the preliminaries, placing her in 12th place overall. In the finals, Yu scored 204.70, posting a combined total of 403.75, which finished in ninth place overall.
Whitney Lopus (Scottsdale, Ariz.) will represent Utah at the NCAA National Swimming and Diving Championships in College Station, Texas Mar. 19-21.
Wyoming: Diving Concludes Zone Championships
The Wyoming diving finished up day three of the 2009 NCAA Zone "E" Championships in Austin, Texas on Saturday. One Cowgirl and three Cowboys competed in the finals.
Sophomore Allie Smith finished 12th overall with a final score 397.95. Smith was the only Cowgirl to compete on Saturday, and competed in the one-meter dive.
"Allie did great today and gained great experience this season, and in the Zone’s," UW diving coach Ben Herdt said. "For Smith to be our only Cowgirl performing in the finals, we thought she did great."
On the men’s side, diving the three-meter, sophomore Mark Murdock led the way. Murdock finished eighth overall with a final score of 592.75. Senior Tyler Miller came in thirteenth with a final score of 497.30. To wrap up the men’s, sophomore Kyle Bogner finished fifteenth. Bogner’s total score was 466.05.
"Mark did an okay job today, but just wasn’t able to finish higher than eighth," said Herdt. "This was Tyler’s last appearance as a Cowboy and I think he was very successful."
