Divers hope to qualify for NCAA

After a successful showing at the Big Ten Championships, the IU women divers return to action March 15-16 at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. The Hoosiers regional zone is competing at Purdue's Boilermaker Aquatic Center.\nAt the Big Ten Championships, the Hoosiers had all six of their competitors score team points on both the one- and three-meter boards. Junior Sara Reiling finished first-place in the 1-meter and platform events. The IU divers compiled 131 team points in the two scored events at Big Tens -- the one- and three-meter springboards.\nSophomore Cassandra Cardinell thinks the Hoosiers' showing at the Big Ten Championships will propel them to success next weekend.\n"Big Tens was a big confidence booster for all of us and helped us realize how good we can be," she said. "It gave us a lot of self-confidence, and (made us) feel like that we do belong to go to NCAAs. That alone is a big aspect of trying to make it to NCAAs."\nDespite their success at Big Tens, Coach Jeff Huber believes his divers can perform better at the zone meet.\n"We typically seem to do our best diving Big Tens, (and) we tend to get better," Huber said. "I think our performance at Big Tens bodes well for us. I think our women came out of there feeling a lot more confident and hungry because nobody was really satisfied."\nThe Hoosiers' zone consists of the Big Ten schools and other teams in the Midwest. Huber expects Purdue senior Kara Hajek-Gustafson, competing on her home turf, and Michigan State senior Carly Weiden to be some of the other top athletes. Weiden defeated Reiling by .75 points to win the three-meter competition at Big Tens.\nWith the Hoosiers sending six divers to the meet, Huber expects it to be a tough competition.\n"The bottom line is that we can't miss," he said. "We (can't) go up there and chunk a dive. If we do that, we will be in good shape."\nOnly the top seven divers from IU's zone qualify for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, March 21-23.\nReiling is confident the Hoosiers will find success and believes the large number of competitors IU will take to the meet will help the team perform better.\n"I think it is a bit of an intimidation for other teams because our team is so big and so good," she said. "We aren't just a big team, but we are also good. Staying together and keeping each other happy, positive and motivated and having fun will help all of us"