Feb. 2, 2010

South Carolina junior diver Taryn Zack took home a fifth-place finish on the 3-meter board at the Diving Plungeon Canada Winter National Championships, which were held this weekend in Toronto.

Zack, a native of Stony Plain, Alberta, also earned a berth in the Canada Cup FINA Grand Prix, an international-level event which will be held in Montreal in May. From there, she will attempt to qualify for one of two spots on Canada’s team for the FINA World Cup, which will be held in China later this summer.

“Taryn really had a great meet,” Gamecock head diving coach Todd Sherritt said. “I think that Canada was a little shocked. They hadn’t seen her dive in a while, and she went up there and turned some heads. She got her qualifying score in preliminaries, then was very steady throughout the rest of the meet. Just a very good meet for her.”

Zack scored a 304.20 in preliminaries to place third in the opening round, which gave her the score she needed to qualify for the Canadian Grand Prix. In the semi-final round, she missed on her fourth dive, a reverse 2 ½ somersault, but was still able to earn the eighth and final spot in the championship round with a 258.40. A steady five-dive list gave her a fifth-place finish at 288.45, only one point out of fourth place.

“I’ve never gone to a meet and only had a diver miss one dive the whole time, including practice,” Sherritt said. “She really was amazing up there. The way she competed this weekend, I think it really boosts her confidence heading into the conference meet and NCAAs.”

Zack and the rest of the Gamecock swimming and diving team will next compete at the SEC Championships, which run Feb. 17-20 in Athens, Ga.