Thursday Finals Results | Live Scoring & Complete Results
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Purdue divers Steele Johnson, Jamie Bissett and Mary Beth Dunnichay qualified for the NCAA Championships on the opening day of the Zone C Championships Thursday afternoon.
Johnson finished second and Bissett fifth in the men's 1-meter competition to clinch spots in the same event at the NCAA Championships later this month in Iowa City. Dunnichay placed ninth in the women's 3-meter finals to claim Zone C's final spot in the event at NCAAs in Greensboro, N.C., next week.
Bissett qualified for NCAAs for the third consecutive year. Dunnichay and Johnson each made it for the first time. Bissett joins Danny Cox, J.P. Perez and David Boudia as the Boilers' most recent men's divers to qualify for NCAAs three years in a row (2009-11).
The revamped qualifying system at Zones now requires Johnson, Bissett and Dunnichay to place among the top 12 finishers in the other diving events to also compete in those events at the NCAA Championships. Previously, once a diver qualified for NCAAs, they were eligible to compete in any diving event at the national championship meet provided that he or she also competed in the event at Zones.
With that rule change in mind, Samm Reese's 11th-place finish in the women's 3-meter and Alec Back's 12th-place showing in the men's 1-meter Thursday could prove to be important. They'll be able to compete in those events at the national championship meet if they can earn their berths in another diving event this week.
The top nine women's finishers on 3-meter and top five men's finishers on 1-meter earned berths at the NCAA Championships Thursday. The top 18 divers in the preliminaries advanced to the finals in both competitions. Nate Cox finished 17th in the men's 1-meter prelims, but the platform specialist opted not to compete in the finals.
Reese posted a personal season-best score (306.55) in the 3-meter finals, which bodes well for the freshman going into the women's 1-meter competition Friday. She has enjoyed her most success on 1-meter this season. However, there is one fewer NCAA berth available (eight total) to the women on 1-meter than 3-meter.
Sean Mokhtari, MacKenzie Tweardy and Cox realistically all have their best chances to qualify for NCAAs via Saturday's platform competitions. Tweardy opted not to compete Thursday on 3-meter and Mokhtari did not advance after finishing 20th in the men's 1-meter prelims.
Johnson and Bissett making it for the Purdue men also means that the Boilers' 200 medley relay team should officially be granted a spot at the NCAA Championships. Purdue had three swimmers earn individual berths to NCAAs this week. Swimmers Stephen Seliskar, Austin Flager and Adam Johnston will team with Lyam Dias, who was the program's top individual swimming qualifier, for the 200 medley relay at NCAAs.
Purdue and Indiana each took two of the five bids available to the men Thursday. The Hoosiers were the only team to earn two women's bids on 3-meter. The day began with 38 divers competing in the men's 1-meter prelims and 51 divers competing in the women's 3-meter prelims.
Action continues Friday at 1 p.m. with women's 1-meter and men's 3-meter.
NCAA Zone C Diving Championships
Day One Qualifiers for NCAA Championships
Men's 1-Meter (Top 5 Finishers)
Michael Hixon, Indiana
Steele Johnson, Purdue
James Connor, Indiana
Stephen Ettienne, Ohio State
Jamie Bissett, Purdue
Women's 3-Meter (Top 9 Finishers)
Pei Lin, Miami (Ohio)
Kaixuan Zhang, Southern Illinois
Jessica Parratto, Indiana
Christa Cabot, Kentucky
Wenting Zhang, Illinois State
Rebecca Hamperian, Kentucky
Lacey Houser, Indiana
Allison Casareto, Notre Dame
Mary Beth Dunnichay, Purdue
Purdue Divers, Men's 1-Meter
Steele Johnson, 778.25 - Finished 2nd in Finals (398.25 Finals, 380.00 Prelims)
Jamie Bissett, 712.55 - Finished 5th in Finals (352.65 Finals, 359.90 Prelims)
Alec Back, 630.90 - Finished 12th in Finals (318.25 Finals, 312.65 Prelims)
Nate Cox - 303.55 - Finished 17th in Prelims; Scratched from Finals
Sean Mokhtari, 300.85 - Finished 20th in Prelims
Purdue Divers, Women's 3-Meter
Mary Beth Dunnichay, 606.20 - Finished 9th in Finals (280.80 Finals, 325.40 Prelims)
Samm Reese, 599.65 - Finished 11th in Finals (306.55 Finals, 293.10 Prelims)