Pair of Hoosiers qualify for NCAA Diving Championships

Heading into this season, sophomore diver Darian Schmidt had never eclipsed 400 points in the 3-meter dive, and junior diver Zac Nees had won only one event in his entire career.

Now, with two weeks remaining until the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Wash., Schmidt is a Big Ten Champion, having scored the school record of 459.30 points in the 3-meter at the meet. Nees won seven events this year.

After Thursday’s action at the NCAA Zone C Championships in Bloomington, the two can add yet another accolade to this season. Both Schmidt and Nees will advance to the NCAA Championships from March 22-24 after both finished in the top three in the 3-meter diving competition.

"It means all of our hard work throughout the season has paid off," Nees said. "Darian and I push each other a lot during practice, so it was nice to qualify along with him."

Schmidt won the NCAA Zone C title after posting a score of 769.90 during a 12-dive span, though it came down to the final dive. After Schmidt’s 10th dive, he led Ohio State’s Shane Miszkiel by a 34.4-point margin.

However, on his 11th dive, Schmidt scored only 40.25 points. After a 72.85-point dive by Miszkiel, the Buckeye had drawn within 1.8 points of Schmidt, but he was able to hold off Miszkiel on the final dive.

Nees scored 146.55 points in his 10th and 11th dives to put himself in position to earn a bid to the NCAA Championships. On the last dive, had Nees scored more than 81.35 points, he would have won the title. However, he scored 64.6 points on his dive, still good for third place and an NCAA bid.

In the women’s 1-meter dive, though no Hoosiers earned bids to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, IU had three top-10 finishers in the event.

Senior Gabby Agostino was the highest finisher for the Hoosiers, as she placed seventh with a score of 573.85.

Sophomore Laura Ryan finished in eighth with a score of 569.65, and sophomore Kate Hillman earned a score of 560.35 en route to a 10th-place finish. In addition, junior Amy Cozad finished 14th for the Hoosiers with a score of 529.80.

Friday’s action will include the men’s 1-meter and the women’s 3-meter dives, as the Hoosiers look to seal more bids for their respective NCAA Championships. The top three finishers in each event who have not already qualified will advance to the championships.

On Saturday, both the men and women will compete in the platform dive, in which the highest finisher who has not already qualified for nationals will make it.

Nees said after qualifying on the first day, the final two will be much more relaxing.

"Coming in my plan was to try to qualify the first day so that I could relax and just dive the rest of the competition," Nees said. "I am really pleased with the results."