UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State men's and women's diving is set to compete in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships hosted by West Virginia at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park from Monday to Wednesday.
Senior Christina Crowell, sophomore Sierra Shurts, junior Bryce Hoch and freshman Kevin Sullivan qualified for NCAA Zones in at least one event. The meet will determine the region's divers that will compete in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship meets.
Live results can be found at divemeets.com, and the links become active at the start of the event.
Competition begins at noon Monday with the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter events, and continues Tuesday at noon with the women's 3-meter and men's 1-meter events. Platform diving will be held Wednesday starting at 1 p.m.
The divers will get six dives to impress in the 1-meter and 3-meter, and the top 18 divers in each event will move onto finals, when they will perform six more dives. Scores from prelims are carried over into the finals. The platform event features all entered divers taking 12 dives.
The top five female and top four male divers from each event at their respective zone diving meet will be eligible to compete at the NCAA Championships. Additional place finishers in each event at each zone.
The Nittany Lions
Crowell and Shurts are coming off a historic performance at the Big Ten Championships. Crowell placed 12th in the finals, which made her the highest-scoring Penn State women's diver in Big Ten Championship competition since Lisa Silvestri placed in the top eight in the 1-meter and 3-meter in 2004.
Crowell qualified for NCAA Zones in the 1-meter with a score of 282.30 at Penn State's "Pink Meet" against West Virginia in October, in the 3-meter with a score of 299.35 at the Ohio State/Virginia Tech meet and the platform at the Buffalo Diving Invitational with a school-record score of 232.23. Crowell has since improved with two additional personal bests in the 1-meter (297.90) and 3-meter (325.25).
Shurts also dove well at Big Ten Championships with a 19th-place finish in the platform (193.5), which was the first time a Penn State women's diver had scored in the platform in at least thirteen years. She qualified for NCAA Zones in the 3-meter at the Navy Diving Invitational in January with a score of 286.25 points.
Hoch will be representing the Nittany Lions in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. He first qualified for NCAA Zones with a win in the 1-meter (302.25) against West Virginia earlier this season. He then earned a qualifying score in the 3-meter (331.55) with a fourth-place finish at the Big Al Invitational early December. He has since secured career-bests in the two events, scoring 308.70 in the 1-meter against Villanova and 335.25 in the 3-meter at Bloomsburg.
Sullivan will also be competing in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives after earning qualifying scores in his freshman season. He qualified for the 1-meter at the Navy Diving Invitational after scoring a 302.45 in the prelims, while his fourth-place finish in the 3-meter at the Penn State Invitational earned him a qualifying score of 330.98. Sullivan has since earned personal-bests in the events in January against Villanova for the 1-meter (310.43) and the Buffalo Invitational in the 3-meter (334.60).
The divers are vying to join qualified Penn State swimmers to compete at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in Athens, Georgia from Mar. 18 to Mar. 21 and the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Ind. from Mar. 25 from Mar. 28.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM , on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive , and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
