March 5, 2007
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Senior Amanda Miller placed third off the 3-meter springboard Friday afternoon at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, qualifying her for the next weekend's NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.
For Miller, this will be her third trip to the NCAAs in four years. She will join senior butterflier Carlene Takaki on the Boilermakers' championship roster.
Miller's 12-dive total of 554.60 points placed her behind Indiana's Christina Loukas (726.40) and Lindsay Weigle (632.95). Ohio State's Julie Broms also qualified with her fourth-place score of 545.30 points.
Boilermakers Emily Wetzel and Lauren Hallyburton made the 18-woman cut from prelims to finals. Wetzel finished 10th with 493.35 points and Hallyburton was 17th with 466.85 points.
All five Boilermaker divers advanced to the afternoon finals on the men's side, but none could punch their ticket for NCAAs. Zach Schultz was the closest with a fourth-place 1-meter score of 634.85 points.
Because the NCAA Championships will take only seven male divers from this zone, compared to nine from the women's side, Schultz' finish wasn't enough to qualify. Schultz and his teammates still can advance if they finish among the top three off the 3-meter springboard or win off the platform Sunday.
Another way for the Boilermakers to move up the allocation list is for the three divers (Kellen Harkeness, Hugh Showe and Chris Dalman) who finished ahead of them Friday to receive a higher allocation over the next two days.
According to NCAA rules, if a diver has already qualified for the NCAA Championships based on his or her finish in another event, the next-place diver will qualify. For example, if the platform winner also wins the three-meter event, the second-place finisher in the three-meter event will qualify for NCAAs.
Senior Steve LoBue, in his first competition back from injury, was sixth off the 1-meter with 622.25 points. Freshmen Danny Cox and Kyle Mitrione finished back-to-back in 10th and 11th place with 585.35 and 563.15 points, respectively. Another rookie, J.P. Perez was 17th with 512.25 points.
The Zone C Championships resume Saturday at 11 a.m. with the men competing off the 3-meter and the women going off the 1-meter. Both groups dive off the tower Sunday.