Divers vie for NCAA spots

Members of the IU men and women's diving team hope to punch their tickets to the NCAA Championships as they start competition today in the Zone C Diving Championships in Columbus, Ohio. \n"We're just trying to stay positive," said junior Jesse Rappaport. "The diving championships are just as hard as the Big Ten but with less hype. We just have to stay mentally focused."\nThe men's team is two weeks removed from winning the school's first swimming and diving Big Ten Championship in 21 years, a boost of confidence that might play a role in the team's performance at the diving championships.\n"They laid a good foundation," said IU diving coach Dr. Jeff Huber. "They feel capable of doing their best diving of the year."\nCombine the high the team is on after a Big Ten Championship with the pressure of knowing that the only opportunity to clinch an NCAA berth comes down to this weekend and staying mentally focused might be harder than usual, senior Brian Mariano said. \n"We're going back to the basics," he said. "We need to calm it down and focus on the specifics of our dives and have a solid performance."\nThe Hoosiers face a tough challenge, as they only earned five spots at last year's NCAA Championships while the women's team earned 11 spots. Mariano said that in order for them to be successful this weekend, they need to be at their best at all times.\n"We need to have a strong, consistent performance and see where the chips fall," he said.\nRappaport said clinching a spot in the NCAA Championships would be the result of four years of hard work at IU.\n"It would be the culmination of my diving at IU," Rappaport said. "It's the ultimate goal."\nFor Mariano, the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Championships is a chance to prove himself after a less-than-satisfying performance in last year's championships.\n"I'd love to go back and show what I can do," Mariano said. "It would be an honor to go again."\nThe meet concludes Sunday while the NCAA Championships run March 16 to 18 in Athens, Ga.