It's another 17th place finish for Palmer at Zones

COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the second straight day at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Championships, University of Arkansas senior Madison Palmer finished 17th in the day’s event. A day after coming in 17th in the three-meter diving event, Palmer placed 17th on the one-meter springboard with a score of 486.45.

“Madison just didn’t dive well today,” Arkansas diving coach Dale Schultz said. “I think she just tried to be too perfect. Last year at Zones, there were no expectations for her and she advanced to NCAAs and became and All-American. This year, expectations were much higher and she just tried to be too perfect and it hurt her.”

The freshmen competing at Zones, Liana Bugslag and Alex Roman, did not advance to the finals but continue to make strides in their first NCAA postseason meet. Bugslag scored a 225.75 in the preliminary round, placing her 20th overall and Roman was close behind in 22nd place with a score of 220.35.

“Liana and Alex both made strides on one-meter,” Schultz said. “Both girls dove well, better than they had been earlier this year so now we’ll keep working with them to get them back here next year, in hopes of qualifying them for NCAAs.”

As she did on Friday in the three-meter diving event, the University of Houston’s Anastasia Pozdniakova won the three-meter springboard competition with a score of 676.15. Kansas, Texas and Houston all qualified two divers for NCAA’s on Saturday and Missouri and Texas A&M each added one qualifier.

Sunday is the final day of the Zone Diving Championships and the Razorbacks will compete once again, this time on the 10-meter platform where the top two or three finishers will qualify for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships next weekend in College Station, Texas.

Platform is Bugslag’s strongest event and Schultz is hoping for a solid outing from the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials Finalist.

“Hopefully Liana will come out tomorrow and dive well enough to qualify for NCAAs,” Schultz said.

The Platform event begins at 10 a.m. on Sunday at the Mizzou Aquatics Center. For updated results and for complete coverage of Arkansas swimming and diving, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.