Three Lady Tigers took the next step to competing the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, with standout performances at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championship this week at Texas A&M’s Student Recreation Center in College Station, Texas.
Senior diver Cassie Weil and freshman diver Lizzie Cui each qualified in two events while sophomore diver Madison Sthamann earned a nod in the platform.
Weil qualified in both the three-meter on Tuesday and the platform on Wednesday in the diving championship after finishing third in both events with scores of 677.30 and 574.65, respectively.
“I’m really happy for Cassie to get her fourth consecutive berth to the NCAA Championships,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer in a press release.
In the three meter, Cui finished just five spots lower to also qualify with a score of 639.15.
Cui, who is just a month removed from finishing 27th in the FINA Diving World Cup, managed her best performance in the Zone Competition in the one-meter on Monday with a second place finish overall and a score of 617.30.
Besides Cui, three other Lady TIgers made the finals of the one-meter, but fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
Senior Allie Alter placed 13th with a score of 545.30 and freshman Rileigh Knox came in 18th with a total of 515.50. Weil came in 15th with a score of 534.85.
Sthamann finished right behind Weil on the platform with a fourth place overall finish and a score of 563.35.
On the men’s side, no LSU divers qualified for the NCAA Championship despite all reaching event finals.
In his first NCAA competition, freshman Matt McClellan earned 10th in the men’s three meter on Tuesday with a score of 688.15.
Freshman Matthew Phillip made it to the finals in two events. Phillip came in 12th in the one meter on Monday with a score of 721.80 and 11th in the platform Wednesday with a score of 657.40.
Junior Andrew Suchla was just two spots away from qualifying in the one-meter with a score of 674.40. Suchla was 11th in the three-meter with a score of 722.40.
“The men performed really well. Andrew came up just short but showed a lot of fight today. He has fought through an injury and remained focused,” Shaffer said. “I can’t tell you how many people who have commented on the development of the men throughout this year. We came up short but there are a lot of positives about this experience.”
You can reach Jarrett Major on Twitter @Jarrett_tdr