March 11, 2006

COLUMBIA, Missouri (SMU) - The divers have finished up the second day of the 2006 Zone D Diving Regionals. With hopes to receive NCAA berths, divers compete to the best of their ability as this meet is the sole decider.

Senior Philip Griffin remains to compete well as he placed fourth in the one-meter event with a score of 632.00 (scores roll over from prelims). Bailey Gao from the University of Texas took the event with a score of 661.45.

Griffin received an automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship with his performance yesterday in the three-meter event as he took second place.

At NCAA Nationals, to be held in Athens, Ga., from March 23-25, the NCAA rules are set up so that, even though a diver only qualifies on one board at Zones, he competes on each board at nationals that he competes on in the Zone meet.

The women competed in the three-meter event with 18 competitors. SMU's Kristin Schild took placed 12th with a score of 501.80 (scores roll over from prelims) while teammate Christina Hussong finished 16th with a score of 475.15. The divers who took the top five honors yesterday in the one-meter, also took the top five places today. Tania Cagnotto of Houston snatched first again with a score of 624.70.

Zone diving action will conclude tomorrow at the Mizzou Aquatics Center with the women on the platform at 10 a.m. and the men following up at 12:30.