Blagg, Herrera Qualify on Day 1 of Zones

AUBURN, Ala. — A pair of Miami Hurricanes secured their spots at the upcoming NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships with impressive performances on Day 1 of Zone B qualifying at the Martin Aquatics Center on the Auburn University campus Monday.

Fresh off dominant performances at the recent ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, redshirt senior Briadam Herrera earned a spot on the 1-meter while redshirt sophomore Alicia Blagg will take part in the 3-meter.

Both divers carried their momentum Monday, with Herrera cruising to the top finish in the 1-meter with a score of 866.25. The Havana, Cuba native, who swept the springboard events in Greensboro, N.C., in late February, easily topped Zhipeng Zeng of Tennessee (795.10).

“I felt good today,” Herrera said. “It was a cumulative event so every dive counted, and I tried to make the best out of all of them. I’m very excited to be going to NCAA Championships and hopefully earning the title there as well.”

Blagg, who swept the women’s springboard at ACC Championships with gold medals in the 1-meter and 3-meter, finished with the second-best score in the 3-meter Monday to clinch her first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships, which will be held next week on the University of Texas campus.

Blagg totaled a score of 664.75, just behind Emily Grund of North Carolina (677.20). Freshman Millie Haffety, competing in Zone B qualifying for the first time in her career, finished with 575.35 points as the 15th overall finisher in the event.

Zone B qualifying continues Tuesday with the men’s 3-meter springboard and the women’s 1-meter springboard.