University of Tennessee Athletics
UT DIVERS HEAD TO NCAA ZONE QUALIFYING MEET
March 13, 2003 | Women's Swimming & Diving
March 13, 2003
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
The Tennessee Lady Vol divers head to Auburn, Ala., for the NCAA Zone B Diving Regional, March 14-16, with hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Ironically, the NCAA event will be held from March 20-22 at the same venue, the Martin Aquatics Center.
A diver who qualifies for NCAAs in any one diving event will then be able to compete in all events in which she participated at the zone championships. The competition will open on Friday with the three-meter springboard, on which a diver must place in the top five in order to earn a trip to NCAAs. The one-meter springboard will be held on Saturday and to qualify for NCAAs, a diver must be among the top four athletes who did not qualify on the 3m. The final day of the zone championships consists of the platform competition, in which divers must place in the top three of those who did not qualify in the 1m or 3m to earn a spot at NCAAs.
"There's no doubt that this is an extremely pressure-packed meet," UT Diving Coach Dave Parrington said. "The entire season comes down to one meet, which puts a great deal of emotion and stress on each student-athlete."
Three of the four Lady Vols at the meet have previously earned All-America recognition at NCAAs, and look to keep alive their hopes of doing so again. Senior Jaime Sanger (Plymouth, Minn.) went to NCAAs as a sophomore, claiming All-America honors on the one-meter and three-meter springboard events. However, Sanger, who has won three consecutive 1m titles at the SEC Championships, missed NCAAs last season after being hampered by injury at the zone qualifying meet.
Much like Sanger, junior Kylee Wells (Russiaville, Ind.) attained All-America status at the NCAA Championships in 2001, but failed to qualify last season after being hindered by injury at the zone qualifier. This year, Wells claimed her first SEC title on the platform on Feb. 22 in Auburn.
The only Lady Vol seeking her second-consecutive appearance at NCAAs is sophomore Lauryn McCalley (Moultrie, Ga.). As a rookie, she had a strong zone meet last season, placing second on the 1m and fifth on the 3m to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships. McCalley went on to place sixth on the 3m and seventh on the 1m at NCAAs and become a two-time All-American in her initial collegiate season.
Senior Stacy Binyon (Southlake, Texas), meanwhile, hopes to make her first trip to NCAAs in her final campaign. Binyon recently recorded her best-ever finish at the SEC Championships with a fourth-place effort on the platform this season in Auburn.
