Dinsmore, Cooper Qualify for NCAA Championships

AUBURN, Ala. — Redshirt junior David Dinsmore and sophomore Zach Cooper put on a show on the final day of Zone B qualifying to cap a terrific run for Hurricane divers at the Martin Aquatics Center.

Dinsmore and Cooper, competing in the men’s platform event, ended with the day’s top two finishes to punch their tickets to Austin, Texas and a trip to the 2019 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships from March 27-30.

Dinsmore, who won the NCAA national championship in the platform as a redshirt freshman in 2017, finished with a whopping 960.25 points after the finals. Dinsmore was the top qualifier in preliminaries (466.90 points) and distanced himself on a dominant day.

“Today was great,” Dinsmore said. “I was a little nervous going in, but I had two solid lists and I couldn’t ask for anything more. This was the first time I’ve competed my full 10-meter list, and I’m feeling good moving forward.”

Cooper, who was an All-American on the platform as a true freshman a season ago, put on a strong showing of his own in both preliminaries and finals.

Cooper finished with 411.95 points after the first round and ended the day with 822.35, trailing only Dinsmore.

The impressive outing from Miami’s platform duo made it four Miami divers qualifying for the NCAA Championships; redshirt senior Briadam Herrera (1-meter, 3-meter) will join the duo in the men’s competition, while redshirt sophomore Alicia Blagg will compete in both springboard events in the women’s competition (March 20-23).

“Zach and I are both in a good place heading into the NCAA Championships, we’ve just got to keep the ball rolling,” Dinsmore said.