March 10, 2014
NCAA Zone A Diving Championships | Women's Results | Men's Results Blacksburg, Va. • Christiansburg Aquatic Center | |
BLACKSBURG, Va.; March 10, 2014 - Five divers took to the boards for Penn State on the first day of the NCAA Zone A Championships hosted by Virginia Tech, with two earning a spot in the finals of their event. Freshman Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) posted the top finish of the day for the Nittany Lions, claiming 16th place on the one-meter while Megan Springsteen (Oswego, N.Y.) placed 18th in the same event.
Cornell opened with a top 10 effort in the prelims of the one-meter, turning in a six-dive score of 237.10 for 10th place. The performance qualified the Germantown, Maryland native for the finals of the event, where she posted a score of 204.65. Cornell's combined score of 441.75 put her in 16th place overall.
Springsteen also reached the finals in the one-meter after finishing 16th in the prelims with a mark of 228.35. The senior went on to produce a score of 200.15 in the finals, putting her combined mark at 428.50 as she place 18th overall.
Meredith Harbison (Butler, Pa.) competed for the women's squad as well but was unable to reach the finals. The junior registered a mark of 187.00 in the prelims to place 45th in her first Zone Diving Championship appearance.
All three women will look to reach the finals in tomorrow's three-meter diving event. Cornell currently holds the top score for the Lions in the events, having posted a mark of 299.85 earlier in the season.
On the men's side, T.J. Schenkel (Richboro, Pa.) placed 21st in the prelims of the three-meter while Lucas Kachurick (McKeesport, Pa.) finished 24th in the event.
Schenkel walked away with a score of 283.00 on the three-meter board in the prelims of the event. He just missed out on qualifying for the finals, placing three spots away from the top-18 cut mark at 21st. Kachurch also placed in the top 25 in the prelims of the event, turning in a mark of 275.70 for 24th.
Both men return to the boards tomorrow to compete in the one-meter event at day two of the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships. Schenkel holds the best score on the team with a career-best mark of 331.13 while Kachurick has also scored above the 300-point mark this season with a personal-best score of 304.80.
The top-two finishers in each event earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships later this month. The automatic qualifying marks on day one went to Jakob Kolod of Virginia and Ryan Hawkins of Virginia Tech on the men's side while Kaylea Arnett of Virginia Tech and Michaela Butler of UMass, Amherst each earned spots at the Championships for the women.
A total of 95 student-athletes, 45 men and 50 women, will compete on day two of the NCAA qualifying event. Competition is slated to begin at Noon on Tuesday with the prelims of the men's 1-meter and the women's 3-meter diving events.