Starks Finishes Fourth on 1-Meter at NCAA Zone B Championships
March 10, 2006
<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>LEXINGTON, Ky.– Junior diver Derek Starks was Miami’s highest finisher on the first day of competition at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships held at LancasterAquaticCenter on the campus of the University of Kentucky Friday afternoon. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The Top-three finishers in each event are guaranteed a spot at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The Zone B meet qualifies nine women and 13 men to the NCAA Championships March 16-18 in Athens, Ga. and March 23-25 in Atlanta, respectively.
Starks finished fourth on the men’s 3-meter with a score of 629.30. Starks has a chance of qualifying to the NCAA Championships if one of the top-three finishers on the 3-meter also gains an automatic spot in one of the other two events, the 1-meter and 10-meter platform.
On the women’s 1-meter springboard, sophomore Jenna Dreyer was the Hurricanes’ highest finisher coming in fifth with a score of 534.80.
Senior Melanie Rinaldi, the ACC Champion on the 1-meter, finished ninth with a score of 524.70. Junior Heather Bounds and freshman Tess Waresmith finished 15th(490.05) and 17th(476.80), respectively.
Miami tied Kentucky for the most women divers to reach the 18-person final round. Preliminary scores carried over into the final scores.
Rinaldi was the highest finisher in the preliminary round with a score of 286.55 that put her in third place. Dreyer finished eighth with a score of 261.80 followed by Bounds in 11th with a mark of 255.50 and Waresmith in 14th with a score of 244.70. On the men’s side, Starks finished sixth with a score of 301. 30.
Competition will resume Saturday at noon with the women’s 3-meter and men’s 1-meter events.
Stay tuned to Hurricanesports.com for up-to-date Miami Diving news, results and recaps from the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships.
