The LSU men’s and women’s divers have a final chance to punch a ticket to the NCAA Championships when they take the pool today in Minneapolis, Minn., for the 2014 NCAA Zone-D Championships.
LSU will take seven divers to the event, including sophomore Cassie Weil, who won two bronze medals during the Southeastern Conference Championships Feb. 18-22.
Weil will compete in all three diving events, including the two events she won bronze in, the 3-meter and platform.
LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said in a competition like this, it can be difficult to predict the outcomes because it depends on who puts their best foot forward during the three day competition.
Senior Sean McKinney will look to improve on his performance after a disappointing outing at the SEC Championships.
“Sean, Kevin [Leong], Alex [Bettridge], Cassie have all performed at a level throughout this season that has given them an opportunity to earn a berth to the NCAA `Championships,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer said he expects all the divers to be focused and ready to compete at the highest level. This is the competition the divers have prepared for all season.
“Divers are performers,” Shaffer said. “It comes natural for them to want to [compete]. The emphasis is to not treat this [meet] as anything different.”
The competition begins today, when the women start preliminary competition at 11 a.m. and wraps up Wednesday with both the men and women competing on the platform at 2:48 p.m.