March 8, 2016

ANNAPOLIS, Md. ââ'¬" Hector Garcia Boissier won the 1-meter dive and Logan Knauss placed fourth at the NCAA Zone A Regional Tuesday afternoon in Lejeune Hall to give the Penn State diving duo NCAA Championship bids in the event.

Garcia posted a 12-dive score of 696.15 to win by less than four points, while Knauss was fourth with a score of 621.05.

Jack Crow and Connor Scanlon also earned Top-10 finishes but finished short of NCAA Championship bid. Crow was sixth with a score of 613.40 and Scanlon was ninth at 596.45.

Crow earned an NCAA bid in the 3-meter Monday though, giving the Penn State men three divers in the NCAA Championships for the first time since Drew Jackson, Chris Alderman and Seth Kane in 1998.

On the women's side Mackenzie Cornell competed in the 3-meter and placed 12th at 540.00.

On Monday, Garcia totaled a 12-dive score of 732.10 to win the Zone, while Crow totaled 717.75 to place right behind him in second. Garcia led after the preliminaries with a six-dive score of 357.75, while Crow was fifth at 347.20.

The pair became the first to qualify for the NCAA Championships for Penn State since Mike Alderman in 2007 and the first duo in the 3-meter since Adam Pierce and Mike Gastaldo in 2005.

Scanlon and Knauss also reached the finals. Scanlon placed 10th with a total score of 643.00 and Knauss was 18th at 574.50.

Cornell represented the Nittany Lion women in the 1-meter, placing 12th with a total score of 478.85.

Platform diving for both the men and the women will be held on Wednesday starting at 11 a.m.

NCAA schools are divided into five zones for diving based upon geographical location. Zone A consists of schools in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. A total of 112 divers qualified for the Zone A Championship on at least one board.

The format for the two springboard events consisted of six dives for all entered divers with the top-18 finishers from the preliminary round advancing to the finals where each again performs six dives. Scores from the preliminary round are carried over into the finals. The platform event features all entered divers taking 12 dives.

Zone A will send four men's divers on the one meter, five on the three meter and four in platform diving to the national championship, while the women will advance five divers from the one-meter event and six from both the three meter and platform competitions to the NCAA meet.

Georgia Tech will play host to both NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship meets. The women will compete in the school's McAuley Aquatic Center March 16-19, with the men's meet slated for March 23-26.