Live Scores / Divers Competing and Schedule
MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men & Women host Zone C Diving Championships
Thursday to Saturday, March 14 to 16 at 1 p.m., 1 p.m. and 11 a.m. ET
Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
AUTOMATIC QUALIFYING SPOTS TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FROM ZONE C
Top 12 in an event also qualify for NCAAs if he or she has already auto-qualified
1-Meter - Women: 9 // Men: 11
3-Meter - Women: 8 // Men: 8
Platform - Women: 12 // Men: 8
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in springboard prelims, Top 12 in platform prelims advance to finals
Thursday at 1 p.m. – Men's 1-Meter, Women's 3-Meter
Friday at 1 p.m. – Women's 1-Meter, Men's 3-Meter
Saturday at 11 a.m. – Women's Platform, Men's Platform to follow (2 p.m.)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eight Boilermakers are slated to compete for berths at the NCAA Championships as the Zone C Diving Championships are contested this week at Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center for the sixth time in the pool's history.
Action is set for Thursday through Saturday during spring break on campus. The springboard competitions begin at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday and women's platform diving opens Saturday's action at 11 a.m. Thursday's schedule features the men competing on 1-meter and the women on 3-meter (simultaneously). They'll be on the opposite boards Friday. The men's platform competition follows the women's Saturday.
Purdue also hosted the Zone C Diving Championships in 2002, 2005, 2010, 2013 and 2016.
Emily Bretscher, Emily Meaney, Morgan Meixner, Maggie Merriman will represent the Purdue women. Ben Bramley, Joe Cifelli, Greg Duncan and Brandon Loschiavo will compete for the Purdue men. As freshmen, Bramley and Merriman are the only Boilermakers that have not previously qualified for the NCAA Championships via Zones.
All-Americans Steele Johnson and Lexi Vincent have both been sidelined this season as seniors. Vincent was able to compete on the springboards at the Big Ten Championships, but it was on 10-meter where she performed at the highest level during her career and qualified for NCAAs each of her first three seasons.
Johnson announced Tuesday that he has opted to turn professional and sign a representation contract with Shade Global. The five-time NCAA champion is set to graduate from Purdue in May with a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary film and video studies. He would have had one year of collegiate eligibility remaining for the 2019-20 school year, but will instead focus on training for the 2020 Olympic Games.
PURDUE EVENT BREAKDOWN AT ZONES
Career appearances at NCAAs in parenthesis
• Emily Meaney (2), Emily Bretscher (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Joe Cifelli (3), Morgan Meixner (2), Greg Duncan (1, at UNC): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Ben Bramley, Maggie Merriman: 3-Meter, Platform
• Brandon Loschiavo (2): Platform
Cifelli has an opportunity to finish his career this spring as a four-year NCAAs qualifier. Casey Matthews (2009-10, 2013-14) has done it on the women's side, but Cifelli would become Purdue's first male diver to accomplish the feat. David Boudia (2009-11) and David Colturi (2008-10) would have been likely four-year qualifiers, but did not compete as seniors; Johnson joins that list this year.
Bretscher and Meaney are slated to compete in all three events at Zones this week. They both qualified for NCAAs in two events as freshmen. Now they're looking to become Purdue's first female divers since Mary Beth Dunnichay in 2015 to earn bids in all three events in one year.
The Boilermakers have had all of their divers qualify for NCAAs at Zones each of the last two seasons.
AUTO-BID FLUCTUATIONS IN ZONE C
• Highlighted by Johnson's national title on 3-meter, the Purdue divers combined for eight scoring finishes (which produce All-America honors) at the 2018 NCAA Championships. But Zone C actually has three fewer auto-qualifying spots (56) than a year ago (59). For each of the three events, all of the five Zones are allotted a baseline of five auto-qualifying berths to NCAAs for the women and four for the men. Additional spots are than allocated for each event based on the number of top-16 scoring finishes that Zone accounted for the previous season.
• Men's 1-meter, women's 1-meter and women's platform all received additional auto-qualifying berths in Zone C this year.
ROAD TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RUNS THROUGH ZONES
• Securing at least one automatic-qualifying finish is the key. The top 12 overall in each event remains the other notable portion of the leaderboard.
• Once a diver has auto-qualified in one event, he or she only has to be among the top 12 in an additional event to also be eligible to compete in it at NCAAs.
• At Zones, the top-18 finishers in the springboard prelims and the top 12 in the platform prelims advance to the championship rounds, from which the divers qualify for the NCAA Championships. Scores carry over from prelims to finals.
ZONES ACROSS THE USA
• There are five Zone Championships meets around the country. Zone C is one again the last of the five to begin. The other four were all held Monday through Wednesday of this week. Hosts this week included Navy (Zone A), Auburn (Zone B), Texas (Zone D) and Northern Arizona (Zone E). Texas is also hosting both the men's and women's NCAA Championships later this month.
• Zone C includes universities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. That means there will be a large Big Ten contingent in attendance at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center this week. Zone C also features divers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Notre Dame as well as selected Horizon and Summit League, Mid-American and Missouri Valley Conference schools.
• Unlike their swimmer counterparts, the divers have to perform well this weekend to qualify for the NCAA Championships. No other scores or results from regular-season competition are considered.
PURDUE DIVING HIGHLIGHTS AT BIG TENS
• Brandon Loschiavo repeated as the conference champion on the tower, joining David Boudia as Purdue's only divers to repeat as the Big Ten champ in the same event.
• Greg Duncan won bronze medals in both springboard events. Ben Bramley and Emily Meaney were bronze medalists on the tower.
• Emily Bretscher finished among the top five on both 1-meter and platform.
• Joe Cifelli, Bramley and Meaney scored in all three diving events. Including the swimmers, Meaney accounted for 52 team points in her events to be the top scorer for the Purdue women.
• Morgan Meixner and Cifelli scored at Big Tens for the fourth year and are closing out their careers this month as the Boilermakers' active career scoring leaders at the meet.
• Cifelli was a championship finalist on 1-meter at Big Tens for the fourth consecutive year. Duncan, Cifelli and Loschiavo all finished among the top seven as 1-meter championship finalists this season.
MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men & Women host Zone C Diving Championships
Thursday to Saturday, March 14 to 16 at 1 p.m., 1 p.m. and 11 a.m. ET
Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center / West Lafayette, Indiana
AUTOMATIC QUALIFYING SPOTS TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS FROM ZONE C
Top 12 in an event also qualify for NCAAs if he or she has already auto-qualified
1-Meter - Women: 9 // Men: 11
3-Meter - Women: 8 // Men: 8
Platform - Women: 12 // Men: 8
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in springboard prelims, Top 12 in platform prelims advance to finals
Thursday at 1 p.m. – Men's 1-Meter, Women's 3-Meter
Friday at 1 p.m. – Women's 1-Meter, Men's 3-Meter
Saturday at 11 a.m. – Women's Platform, Men's Platform to follow (2 p.m.)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eight Boilermakers are slated to compete for berths at the NCAA Championships as the Zone C Diving Championships are contested this week at Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center for the sixth time in the pool's history.
Action is set for Thursday through Saturday during spring break on campus. The springboard competitions begin at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday and Friday and women's platform diving opens Saturday's action at 11 a.m. Thursday's schedule features the men competing on 1-meter and the women on 3-meter (simultaneously). They'll be on the opposite boards Friday. The men's platform competition follows the women's Saturday.
Purdue also hosted the Zone C Diving Championships in 2002, 2005, 2010, 2013 and 2016.
Emily Bretscher, Emily Meaney, Morgan Meixner, Maggie Merriman will represent the Purdue women. Ben Bramley, Joe Cifelli, Greg Duncan and Brandon Loschiavo will compete for the Purdue men. As freshmen, Bramley and Merriman are the only Boilermakers that have not previously qualified for the NCAA Championships via Zones.
All-Americans Steele Johnson and Lexi Vincent have both been sidelined this season as seniors. Vincent was able to compete on the springboards at the Big Ten Championships, but it was on 10-meter where she performed at the highest level during her career and qualified for NCAAs each of her first three seasons.
Johnson announced Tuesday that he has opted to turn professional and sign a representation contract with Shade Global. The five-time NCAA champion is set to graduate from Purdue in May with a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary film and video studies. He would have had one year of collegiate eligibility remaining for the 2019-20 school year, but will instead focus on training for the 2020 Olympic Games.
PURDUE EVENT BREAKDOWN AT ZONES
Career appearances at NCAAs in parenthesis
• Emily Meaney (2), Emily Bretscher (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Joe Cifelli (3), Morgan Meixner (2), Greg Duncan (1, at UNC): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Ben Bramley, Maggie Merriman: 3-Meter, Platform
• Brandon Loschiavo (2): Platform
Cifelli has an opportunity to finish his career this spring as a four-year NCAAs qualifier. Casey Matthews (2009-10, 2013-14) has done it on the women's side, but Cifelli would become Purdue's first male diver to accomplish the feat. David Boudia (2009-11) and David Colturi (2008-10) would have been likely four-year qualifiers, but did not compete as seniors; Johnson joins that list this year.
Bretscher and Meaney are slated to compete in all three events at Zones this week. They both qualified for NCAAs in two events as freshmen. Now they're looking to become Purdue's first female divers since Mary Beth Dunnichay in 2015 to earn bids in all three events in one year.
The Boilermakers have had all of their divers qualify for NCAAs at Zones each of the last two seasons.
AUTO-BID FLUCTUATIONS IN ZONE C
• Highlighted by Johnson's national title on 3-meter, the Purdue divers combined for eight scoring finishes (which produce All-America honors) at the 2018 NCAA Championships. But Zone C actually has three fewer auto-qualifying spots (56) than a year ago (59). For each of the three events, all of the five Zones are allotted a baseline of five auto-qualifying berths to NCAAs for the women and four for the men. Additional spots are than allocated for each event based on the number of top-16 scoring finishes that Zone accounted for the previous season.
• Men's 1-meter, women's 1-meter and women's platform all received additional auto-qualifying berths in Zone C this year.
ROAD TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RUNS THROUGH ZONES
• Securing at least one automatic-qualifying finish is the key. The top 12 overall in each event remains the other notable portion of the leaderboard.
• Once a diver has auto-qualified in one event, he or she only has to be among the top 12 in an additional event to also be eligible to compete in it at NCAAs.
• At Zones, the top-18 finishers in the springboard prelims and the top 12 in the platform prelims advance to the championship rounds, from which the divers qualify for the NCAA Championships. Scores carry over from prelims to finals.
ZONES ACROSS THE USA
• There are five Zone Championships meets around the country. Zone C is one again the last of the five to begin. The other four were all held Monday through Wednesday of this week. Hosts this week included Navy (Zone A), Auburn (Zone B), Texas (Zone D) and Northern Arizona (Zone E). Texas is also hosting both the men's and women's NCAA Championships later this month.
• Zone C includes universities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. That means there will be a large Big Ten contingent in attendance at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center this week. Zone C also features divers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Notre Dame as well as selected Horizon and Summit League, Mid-American and Missouri Valley Conference schools.
• Unlike their swimmer counterparts, the divers have to perform well this weekend to qualify for the NCAA Championships. No other scores or results from regular-season competition are considered.
PURDUE DIVING HIGHLIGHTS AT BIG TENS
• Brandon Loschiavo repeated as the conference champion on the tower, joining David Boudia as Purdue's only divers to repeat as the Big Ten champ in the same event.
• Greg Duncan won bronze medals in both springboard events. Ben Bramley and Emily Meaney were bronze medalists on the tower.
• Emily Bretscher finished among the top five on both 1-meter and platform.
• Joe Cifelli, Bramley and Meaney scored in all three diving events. Including the swimmers, Meaney accounted for 52 team points in her events to be the top scorer for the Purdue women.
• Morgan Meixner and Cifelli scored at Big Tens for the fourth year and are closing out their careers this month as the Boilermakers' active career scoring leaders at the meet.
• Cifelli was a championship finalist on 1-meter at Big Tens for the fourth consecutive year. Duncan, Cifelli and Loschiavo all finished among the top seven as 1-meter championship finalists this season.