Divers head to Zone E Championships

PROVO, Utah –Four BYU divers have qualified for the Zone E Diving Championships that will take place this Thursday through Saturday at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Nicholas Suder, Matt Hopper, Dayna Christensen and Raleigh Williams Taylor have all met the requirements to dive this weekend in hopes of making the NCAA swimming and diving meet.

“We will all need to dive better than we have all season,” BYU head diving coach Keith Russell said. “There are some great divers in our zone, some have qualified for the Olympics so we will have our work cut out for us this weekend.

Suder was named the MPSF Male Diver of the Year. At the MPSF meet he won the 3-meter with a score of 356.95 and the 1-meter with a score of 328.65. He also recorded six first-place finishes on the season. Hopper placed sixth at the MPSF Diving Championships in the 3-meter with a score of 301.00 and ninth in the 1-meter final with a score of 309.35.

Christensen placed second at the MPSF Championships in the 3-meter with a score of 298.80, third in the 1-meter with a score of 281.15 and placed fourth in platform with a score of 213.10. Williams placed second in the 1-meter with a score of 286.65, fourth in the 3-meter with a score of 292.25 and sixth in platform with a score of 193.45.

The events will begin Thursday with the prelims for the women’s 3-meter at 11 a.m. MDT and the final will begin at 1:45 p.m. The men will compete in the 1-meter with prelims starting at 4:45 p.m. and the finals at 6:30 p.m.

The men and women will switch events on Friday and follow the same schedule as the day before for prelims and finals.

Platform will be the final event on Saturday. The women will begin at 11 a.m. for preliminaries and the final will be at 12:30 p.m. The men’s preliminaries will begin at 3:30 p.m. and the finals will begin at 5 p.m.

There will be priority placing from zones to the NCAA Championships and an explanation of who qualifies for the championships can be found at Swimming World Magazine.

The diving events will take place at the Cadet Natatorium on the campus of Air Force Academy. Live stats will be provided for the meet. Check the men’s swimming page for results of the meet.