March 16, 2008
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Boilermakers Kara Cook and Katie Berg finished second and third on platform Sunday at the NCAA Region C Diving Zones in Columbus, Ohio and will be joining their teammate Ashley Karnes at next weekend's NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
All three Boilemakers will be making their NCAA debut. Purdue has qualified at least one diver for NCAA's every year since 2004.
The national championships also take place at Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion and start next Thursday.
Cook, the 2008 Big Ten Champion on platform, today was the runner-up to Ohio State's Kristen Asman with a 10-dive total of 534.90 points. Cook totaled 270.35 points in prelims and 264.55 points in finals.
Asman, who was second to Cook at the conference championships, won the Zone C title with 559.25 points.
Berg finished right behind Cook with 532.75 points. The senior was fourth coming out of prelims with 263.60 points, but scored 269.15 points on her final five dives, pushing her past Indiana's Amy Korthauer for third place.
Korthauer accumulated 514.00 points for fourth place and was left out of the NCAA picture.
In addition to Karnes, who won the Zone's 1-meter and 3-meter springboard titles on Friday and Saturday, Berg and Cook will be joined at NCAA's by the following six Region C divers: Asman, Bianca Alvarez and Chelsea Davis of Ohio State, Brittany Feldman of Indiana, Michigan's Elyse Lee and Toledo's Megan McKinley.