UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State men's and women's diving is set to compete in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships taking place Thursday, Mar. 11 - Saturday, Mar. 13 in Greensboro, N.C. at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
Junior Sierra Shurts, sophomore Wei Wei, senior Bryce Hoch, and sophomore Kevin Sullivan qualified for NCAA Zones. The meet determines the region's divers that will get the chance to compete in the 2021 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 10:30 a.m. Thursday with the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter, and continues Friday at 10:30 a.m. with the women's 3-meter and men's platform. Contest will conclude on Saturday afternoon with the men's 1-meter and women's platform events.
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 the men taking 12 dives in two sets of six, and the women doing two lists of five for ten total 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
Sullivan qualified on both the 1-meter and 3-meter. He first qualified in the 3-meter with a second-place finish (324.00) against Michigan State earlier this season. He competed in the event at last season's Zone A Regional Championships, finishing 18th overall with a 12-dive score of 597.75. Sullivan recently earned his qualifying score of 302.70 in the 1-meter in the preliminaries at the Big Ten Championships. Last season he finished 14th in the event with a 12 dive score of 571.60 at NCAA Zones.
Hoch qualified in the 3-meter with a best score of 340.28 against Ohio State earlier this season. Additionally, he clinched first against Michigan State in the event (333.38) and earned second against Arizona (285.08).
Shurts also qualified in both events, earning her 1-meter early in the season with a personal-best (268.15), placing sixth against Ohio State and Rutgers. In addition, she's taken home second versus Arizona (248.98), third against Nebraska (252.75), and fourth to close out the regular season against the Spartans (254.55). In the 3-meter, she secured her NCAA spot early in the season, diving for 303.05 against Ohio State and Rutgers to place fourth at the meet. She also secured second against Arizona (244.05) and had a third-place finish against Michigan State in the event with a score of 267.38.
Wei earned her qualification in the 3-meter with a personal-best (289.65) that was good for second against Michigan State. This will be her first time competing at NCAA Zones.
The divers are vying to join qualified Penn State swimmers to compete at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C. from Mar. 17 to Mar. 20 and the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in the same location from Mar. 24 to Mar. 27.
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.