Hoosiers qualify 4 divers for NCAAs

After a strong performance at the NCAA Zone C meet this weekend, the IU women’s diving squad put itself in a favorable position for next week’s NCAA championships. \nFour IU women – Christina Loukas, Lindsay Weigle, Heather Chapman and Brittney Feldman – qualified for the NCAA championship meet in Minneapolis, Minn.\nThe Hoosiers turned in a dominant performance, winning all three events at the meet. Loukas continued to impress on the springboards, taking first on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards with scores of 652.10 and 726.40, respectively. \n“Christina has definitely done very well,” diving coach Jeff Huber said after the meet. “She gets better and gains more confidence with every performance.”\nWeigle finished first on the platform with a score of 622.20 and took second on the 3-meter with a score of 632.95. Chapman qualified with her second-place score of 575.85 on the platform and Feldman turned in a fourth-place score of 577.25 on the 1-meter to qualify. \n“Lindsay and Heather looked great on the platform,” Huber said. “We’re also really pleased that Brittney was able to qualify as well. Anytime you can get four divers qualified, it’s great. It’s always fun to go to NCAAs with a team of divers.”\nThe four divers will join nine IU swimmers at the NCAA meet next weekend. \nOn the men’s side, IU was unable to qualify any divers for the NCAA championships.\nJunior Taylor Roberts turned in the best performance for the men. Despite diving with a dislocated finger, Roberts turned in a fifth-place finish on the 1-meter and a sixth-place finish on the 3-meter. \n“Taylor did a great job,” Huber said. “He really stepped up like a champion, and I’m really proud of the guy. It’s unfortunate that he’s not going to the NCAAs, because he is one of the top divers in the country.” \nSophomore Will Bohonyi and junior David Legler finished sixth and seventh on the platform, respectively. \n“We were a little off on the platform today,” Huber said. “We put in our best effort at the end, but there were maybe two dives out of 12 that we just missed and that made the difference.”\nAlthough the NCAA diving season is over for the men, they will still work hard to prepare for the U.S. Spring Nationals. \n“We did some great stuff this year,” Huber said. “Hopefully we can use the time off to get ready for a good performance at the Spring Nationals.”