University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
NCAA Zone B Diving Championships
Robles, Helms Qualify for NCAAs
March 05, 2012 | Men's Swimming & Diving
March 5, 2012
Tennessee freshman Mauricio Robles and senior Ryan Helms qualified for the NCAA Championships after their first day performances at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala.
Robles finished second and Helms took third in the regional 3-meter event Monday evening to earn two of the eight positions available for the national championships later this month in Seattle.
In two rounds of diving, Robles collected a total score of 786.95. Helms, the SEC Diver of the Year and conference champion on the 3-meter last month, recovered from two missed dives in the preliminary round to end with 762.10.
Samuel Dorman of Miami had the top score of 793.45 to also qualify for NCAAs.
"Mauricio was a model of consistency all day," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "Ryan was a little bit up and down today. He's been limited in training because of a hand injury, but he was able to work his way into a qualifying spot."
Junior Brent Sterling was not far behind the Vols' leaders thanks to a career day on the 3-meter boards. He finished fifth with 755.70 points and is currently 11th in the Zone B qualifying list, three places shy of qualifying for NCAAs.
Sterling set a new personal best in the preliminaries with a score of 376.20, but he did not stop there. In the evening, he topped that performance with an even better total of 379.50.
"Getting career bests at a meet like this is a really difficult thing to do because the judging is so tight," Parrington said. "The coaches are the judges for this meet. Because so much is at stake here, the coaches aren't going to let anything go."
Junior Jordan Mauney finished 24th of 36 divers with 295.35 points.
The Vols compete on the 1-meter springboard Tuesday. The platform competition is on Wednesday.
NCAA Zone B: Men's Qualifying Chart
After Monday's 3-meter competition
1. (P-1)
2. Samuel Dorman, Miami
3. (1M-1)
4. Mauricio Robles, Tennessee
5. (1M-2)
6. Ryan Helms, Tennessee
7. (1M-3)
8. (P-2)
-----------NCAA Qualifiers Above This Line-----------
9. David MacDonald, North Carolina
10. (1M-4)
11. Brent Sterling, Tennessee
12. (P-3)
13. (1M-5)
14. Cody Kolodziejzyk, Duke
15. (1M-6)
16. (P-4)
17. Michael Neubacher, Florida State
18. (1M-7)
19. John Santeiu, Auburn
20. (P-5)
21. (1M-8)
22. Ford McLiney, Florida State
23. (1M-9)
24. (P-6)
25. Brandon Makinson, Georgia Tech
26. (1M-10)
27. Adam Godzinski, Auburn
28. (P-7)
29. (1M-11)
30. Thomas Neubacher, Florida State
31. (1M-12)
