Divers will not compete at NCAAs

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Arkansas will not send any divers to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships this year, after the Razorbacks failed to qualify for NCAAs while at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Championships this weekend in Columbia, Mo.

“We dove better today,” Razorback diving coach Dale Schultz said. “It just wasn’t enough for us to advance into next week’s championship meet.”

Competing on the 10-meter platform on Sunday morning, freshman Liana Bugslag, a 2008 Canadian Olympic Trails Finalist, led the three Razorbacks divers on the platform with a score of 434.40, finishing in eighth place.

Senior Madison Palmer, who had disappointing 17th-place finishes on both the one-meter and three-meter springboards at Zones finished 10th on tower, scoring a 426.90.

“We finished stronger on platform than we did on springboard the last two days but it wasn’t enough,” Schultz said. “It was a very tough contest overall.”

Alex Roman, using this season’s Zones meet as an introduction to postseason collegiate diving before stepping into Palmer’s shoes next season, came in 16th on tower with a score of 294.40.

Texas’ Shelby Cullinan finished first in the platform competition, scoring a 595.90 and Anastasia Pozdniakova of Houston, who won the one- and three-meter events, place second with a score of 512.75.

Thursday begins the NCAA Championship meet in College Station, Texas. Swimmers Stephanie Carr, Yi Ting Siow, Leah Pierce, Katie Kastes and Jamie Marks will all make the trip to the Texas A&M campus for the meet which runs through Saturday March 21.

For complete coverage of Razorback swimming and diving, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.