MEET INFORMATION
Purdue Men & Women at the Zone C Diving Championships
Monday, March 9 to Wednesday, March 11
Jones Natatorium / Ypsilanti, Mich.
Stream on YouTube
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: 7 // Men: 8
3-Meter – Women: 10 // Men: 10
Platform – Women: 10 // Men: 9
ZONE C SCHEDULE
Top 18 in prelims advance to finals
Monday at 1 p.m. – Women’s 1-Meter, Men’s 3-Meter
Tuesday at 1 p.m. – Men’s 1-Meter, Women’s 3-Meter
Wednesday – Men’s Platform at 10:45 a.m., Women’s Platform at 5:15 p.m.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Eleven Purdue Divers compete for berths at the NCAA Championships as the Zone C Diving Championships return to the Great Lakes State as Eastern Michigan hosts the annual qualifier.
Zone C one again features a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday schedule, with springboard action set for 1 p.m. ET on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday’s final day of Midwest qualifier features the men competing first on platform this year. Traditionally it was ladies first on platform to close the Zone C meet.
PURDUE EVENT SCHEDULE AT ZONES – INDIVIDUAL
Career appearances at NCAAs in parenthesis
• Daryn Wright (3): 3-Meter, Platform
• Max Miller (2): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Holden Higbie (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Kaden Springfield (1): 3-Meter, Platform
• Zach Welsh (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Tyler Wills (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Avery Worobel (1): 1-Meter, 3-Meter
• Ruth Anne McCranie: Platform
• Nathaniel Grannis: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Amelia Rinehart: 1-Meter, 3-Meter, Platform
• Kaitlin Simons: 3-Meter, Platform
As a senior and multi-year All-American, Wright is aiming to close out her collegiate career as a four-year NCAA Championships qualifier. She has 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), Maycey Vieta (2021-24), Sophie McAfee (2022-25) and Jordan Rzepka (2022-25). Ben Bramley (2019-22) and Emily Bretscher (2018-22) likely would have accomplished the feat as well if not for the shutdown in 2020, which officially went into effect during the opening day of the Zone C Championships in Lexington.
Nathaniel Grannis, Holden Higbie, Amelia Rinehart and Tyler Wills are competing in all three events this week. Higbie qualified for NCAAs in all three as a freshman in 2024. Grannis, Higbie and Wills scored in all three events at the Big Ten Championships last month.
Max Miller, Kaden Springfield, Zach Welsh, Avery Worobel and Wills joined Wright as NCAAs qualifiers last year. Springfield was an NCAA bronze medalist. Miller and Worobel are now Big Ten champions after their victories on 1-meter and 3-meter, respectively, over the final weeks of February.
Grannis was the Purdue men’s top scorer at Big Tens, joining Springfield, Welsh, Worobel and Wills as Big Ten All-Freshman Team honorees since the league adopted that first-year honor in 2025. This week he makes his Zones debut along with classmate Rinehart.
In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, every Boilermaker that completed at Zones qualified for NCAAs in at least one event. Nine of Purdue’s 11 divers that competed at Zones last year earned NCAAs bids. The Zone C Championships were last held in the state of Michigan in 2022 when the University of Michigan hosted.
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 of 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.
Georgia’s Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta is hosting both NCAA Championships this season for the second time since 2022. The women’s meet is March 18-21 and the men’s the following week – March 25-28.
PURDUE'S DAILY SCHEDULES
Monday
• Women's 1-Meter: Avery, Amelia
• Men's 3-Meter: Max, Nathaniel, Holden, Tyler, Kaden, Zach
Tuesday
• Men's 1-Meter: Max, Nathaniel, Holden, Tyler, Zach
• Women's 3-Meter: Avery, Daryn, Kaitlin, Amelia
Wednesday
• Men's Platform: Tyler, Kaden, Nathaniel, Holden
• Women's Platform: Daryn, Kaitlin, Ruth Anne, Amelia
ZONES ACROSS THE USA
• There are five Zone Championships meets around the country. Navy (Zone A), Georgia (Zone B), Texas A&M (Zone D) and Northern Arizona (Zone E) are also hosting. All five should conclude on the same day (March 11) 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.
Divers Pursue Their NCAAs Bids at Zones
Eastern Michigan hosts Zone C's annual NCAA Championships qualifier this season