March 12, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s one male and four female divers will compete to be among the group of entrants into the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships as they travel to Knoxville, Tenn., for the NCAA Zone B Diving competition this weekend.

Ten women’s spots are up for grabs, along with 11 men’s entries at the three-day competition. The top women’s performers will earn an invitation to next week’s NCAA Championships; the top men will compete a week later in College Station, Texas.

Sophomore Taryn Zack leads the women’s contingent to Knoxville, only a few weeks removed from claiming Carolina’s ninth SEC diving title and its first since 2006. The All-SEC First-Team performer looks to make a return trip to the national meet, where she earned All-America honors on both the one- and three-meter boards a year ago. Last year at the Zone B competition in Auburn, Ala., Zack walked away with a first-place finish in the one-meter board to earn her trip to the NCAA meet.

Joining Zack on the women’s side will be sophomore Allison Barr, freshman Helen Alvey and junior Morgan Ricke. All three turned in strong performances at the SEC Championships, including two championship finals appearances by Barr in the one-meter and platform events. Freshman Ryan Kuser will represent the men.

The competition gets underway at noon Friday at the new Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatics Center on the UT campus with men’s one-meter and women’s three-meter competition. Saturday will see the women’s one-meter and men’s three-meter events, and the platform competition will take place on Sunday.

Live results can be followed through utladyvols.com, and a full report will follow each session on gamecocksonline.com.