MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men & Women at the Zone C Diving Championships
Monday, March 10 to Wednesday, March 12
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion / Columbus, Ohio
Video Stream at BigTenPlus.com & the B1G+ App
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: 6 // Men: 10
3-Meter – Women: 10 // Men: 8
Platform – Women: 11 // Men: 10
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in prelims advance to finals
Monday at 1 p.m. – Men's 1-Meter, Women's 3-Meter
Tuesday at 1 p.m. – Women's 1-Meter, Men's 3-Meter
Wednesday at 11 a.m. – Women's Platform followed by Men's Platform
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eleven Purdue Divers compete for berths at the NCAA Championships as the Zone C Diving Championships return to Big Ten country with Ohio State hosting for the fifth time since 2011.
Zone C is moving to a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule for the individual events, with springboard action set for 1 p.m. ET on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday's final day of the qualifier begins at 11 a.m. with the women's platform competition and the men following at approximately 2 p.m.
March 9 Update: Team Diving is not being held at Zones this year. If the exhibition team diving competitions are contested again, those will be held Sunday evening. Sophie McAfee, Avery Worobel and Daryn Wright joined forces to win team diving at the women's Big Ten Championships, which were also held in Columbus. The Purdue men were victorious in the event at Zones last year, a trio that included Jordan Rzepka and Max Miller.
PURDUE EVENT SCHEDULE AT ZONES – INDIVIDUAL
Career appearances at NCAAs in parenthesis
• Sophie McAfee (3): 3-Meter, Platform
• Jordan Rzepka (3): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Jenna Sonnenberg (2): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Daryn Wright (2): 3-Meter, Platform
• Max Miller (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Kaitlin Simons: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Ruth Anne McCranie: 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Kaden Springfield: 3-Meter, Platform
• Zach Welsh: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Tyler Wills: 3-Meter, Platform
• Avery Worobel: 1-Meter, 3-Meter
As seniors and multi-year All-Americans, McAfee and Rzepka are aiming to close out their collegiate careers as four-year NCAA Championships qualifiers. They have an opportunity to join an elite list of Boilermakers to achieve the feat – a group that currently includes Casey Matthews (2009-10, 2013-14), Joe Cifelli (2016-19), Brandon Loschiavo (2017-19, 2021), Greg Duncan (2019-22), Maggie Merriman (2019, 2021-23) and Maycey Vieta (2021-24). Ben Bramley (2019-22) and Emily Bretscher (2018-22) likely would have accomplished the feat as well if not for the shutdown in 2020.
Rzepka would be the first among that group to qualify for NCAAs in all three events all four years. He was one of 23 men's divers nationally to qualify in all three events last season.
Daryn Wright, Jenna Sonnenberg, Max Miller and Holden Higbie joined McAfee and Rzepka at NCAAs last year. McAfee, Wright, Rzepka, Miller and Higbie all earned All-America accolades in at least one event. An injury has sidelined Higbie this season.
Five of the 11 Boilermakers competing this week are freshmen making their debuts at Zones. That's believed to be Purdue's most freshmen at Zones in any year since 2012. Avery Worobel, Tyler Wills, Kaden Springfield and Zach Welsh all represented Purdue on the new Big Ten All-Freshman Teams at the conference championships.
In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, every Boilermaker that completed at Zones qualified for NCAAs in at least one event. Ohio State also hosted the NCAA Zone C Championships in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2018.
ROAD TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RUNS THROUGH ZONES
• Unlike their swimmer counterparts, the divers have to perform well this week to qualify for the NCAA Championships. No other scores or results from regular-season competition or the Big Ten Championships are considered.
• Securing at least one automatic-qualifying finish at Zones 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.
• The allotted auto-qualifying spots in each event are determined by the number scoring finishes a Zone accounted for in that event at NCAAs the year prior.
• Unlike Big Tens and NCAAs, scores carry over from the preliminary to final at Zones. The top 18 qualify for the final.
Rzepka was the Big Ten Diver of the Championships after winning the conference title on platform and bronze on 3-meter, taking home two medals for the third time in his four-year career at Big Tens. Wills joined Rzepka on the podium while winning bronze on platform. On the women's side, Worobel won silver on 3-meter and Wright repeated as the bronze medalist on platform.
The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., is hosting both NCAA Championships this season. The women's meet is March 19-22 and the men's the following week – March 26-29.
PURDUE'S DAILY SCHEDULES
Sunday
• Men's Team Diving: TBD
• Women's Team: TBD
Monday
• Men's 1-Meter: Jordan, Max, Zach
• Women's 3-Meter: Avery, Daryn, Sophie, Jenna, Kaitlin, Ruth Anne
Tuesday
• Women's 1-Meter: Avery, Jenna, Kaitlin, Ruth Anne
• Men's 3-Meter: Jordan, Max, Zach, Kaden, Tyler
Wednesday
• Women's Platform: Daryn, Sophie, Jenna, Kaitlin
• Men's Platform: Jordan, Tyler, Kaden, Zach
ZONES ACROSS THE USA
• There are five Zone Championships meets around the country. Princeton (Zone A), Auburn (Zone B), Iowa (Zone D) and Federal Way (Zone E) are also hosting. All five should conclude on the same day (March 12) this year.
• 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 in Columbus 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.
Purdue Men & Women at the Zone C Diving Championships
Monday, March 10 to Wednesday, March 12
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion / Columbus, Ohio
Video Stream at BigTenPlus.com & the B1G+ App
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: 6 // Men: 10
3-Meter – Women: 10 // Men: 8
Platform – Women: 11 // Men: 10
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in prelims advance to finals
Monday at 1 p.m. – Men's 1-Meter, Women's 3-Meter
Tuesday at 1 p.m. – Women's 1-Meter, Men's 3-Meter
Wednesday at 11 a.m. – Women's Platform followed by Men's Platform
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eleven Purdue Divers compete for berths at the NCAA Championships as the Zone C Diving Championships return to Big Ten country with Ohio State hosting for the fifth time since 2011.
Zone C is moving to a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule for the individual events, with springboard action set for 1 p.m. ET on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday's final day of the qualifier begins at 11 a.m. with the women's platform competition and the men following at approximately 2 p.m.
March 9 Update: Team Diving is not being held at Zones this year. If the exhibition team diving competitions are contested again, those will be held Sunday evening. Sophie McAfee, Avery Worobel and Daryn Wright joined forces to win team diving at the women's Big Ten Championships, which were also held in Columbus. The Purdue men were victorious in the event at Zones last year, a trio that included Jordan Rzepka and Max Miller.
PURDUE EVENT SCHEDULE AT ZONES – INDIVIDUAL
Career appearances at NCAAs in parenthesis
• Sophie McAfee (3): 3-Meter, Platform
• Jordan Rzepka (3): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Jenna Sonnenberg (2): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Daryn Wright (2): 3-Meter, Platform
• Max Miller (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Kaitlin Simons: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Ruth Anne McCranie: 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Kaden Springfield: 3-Meter, Platform
• Zach Welsh: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Tyler Wills: 3-Meter, Platform
• Avery Worobel: 1-Meter, 3-Meter
As seniors and multi-year All-Americans, McAfee and Rzepka are aiming to close out their collegiate careers as four-year NCAA Championships qualifiers. They have an opportunity to join an elite list of Boilermakers to achieve the feat – a group that currently includes Casey Matthews (2009-10, 2013-14), Joe Cifelli (2016-19), Brandon Loschiavo (2017-19, 2021), Greg Duncan (2019-22), Maggie Merriman (2019, 2021-23) and Maycey Vieta (2021-24). Ben Bramley (2019-22) and Emily Bretscher (2018-22) likely would have accomplished the feat as well if not for the shutdown in 2020.
Rzepka would be the first among that group to qualify for NCAAs in all three events all four years. He was one of 23 men's divers nationally to qualify in all three events last season.
Daryn Wright, Jenna Sonnenberg, Max Miller and Holden Higbie joined McAfee and Rzepka at NCAAs last year. McAfee, Wright, Rzepka, Miller and Higbie all earned All-America accolades in at least one event. An injury has sidelined Higbie this season.
Five of the 11 Boilermakers competing this week are freshmen making their debuts at Zones. That's believed to be Purdue's most freshmen at Zones in any year since 2012. Avery Worobel, Tyler Wills, Kaden Springfield and Zach Welsh all represented Purdue on the new Big Ten All-Freshman Teams at the conference championships.
In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, every Boilermaker that completed at Zones qualified for NCAAs in at least one event. Ohio State also hosted the NCAA Zone C Championships in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2018.
ROAD TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS RUNS THROUGH ZONES
• Unlike their swimmer counterparts, the divers have to perform well this week to qualify for the NCAA Championships. No other scores or results from regular-season competition or the Big Ten Championships are considered.
• Securing at least one automatic-qualifying finish at Zones 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.
• The allotted auto-qualifying spots in each event are determined by the number scoring finishes a Zone accounted for in that event at NCAAs the year prior.
• Unlike Big Tens and NCAAs, scores carry over from the preliminary to final at Zones. The top 18 qualify for the final.
Rzepka was the Big Ten Diver of the Championships after winning the conference title on platform and bronze on 3-meter, taking home two medals for the third time in his four-year career at Big Tens. Wills joined Rzepka on the podium while winning bronze on platform. On the women's side, Worobel won silver on 3-meter and Wright repeated as the bronze medalist on platform.
The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Wash., is hosting both NCAA Championships this season. The women's meet is March 19-22 and the men's the following week – March 26-29.
PURDUE'S DAILY SCHEDULES
Sunday
• Men's Team Diving: TBD
• Women's Team: TBD
Monday
• Men's 1-Meter: Jordan, Max, Zach
• Women's 3-Meter: Avery, Daryn, Sophie, Jenna, Kaitlin, Ruth Anne
Tuesday
• Women's 1-Meter: Avery, Jenna, Kaitlin, Ruth Anne
• Men's 3-Meter: Jordan, Max, Zach, Kaden, Tyler
Wednesday
• Women's Platform: Daryn, Sophie, Jenna, Kaitlin
• Men's Platform: Jordan, Tyler, Kaden, Zach
ZONES ACROSS THE USA
• There are five Zone Championships meets around the country. Princeton (Zone A), Auburn (Zone B), Iowa (Zone D) and Federal Way (Zone E) are also hosting. All five should conclude on the same day (March 12) this year.
• 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 in Columbus 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.