Gamecocks Finish Week with Three NCAA Qualifiers

AUBURN, Ala.- The final day of competition at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships saw South Carolina fifth-year senior, Marissa Roth, finish fourth in the women’s platform competition to qualify for the event at next week’s women’s swimming and diving NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. 

Roth will be joined in the platform event at NCAA’s by teammate, Mikaela Lujan, who qualified with a 10^th-place finish at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center Wednesday.

“It was a good week here in Austin,” said Head Diving Coach Todd Sherritt. “We have a really tough zone this year, especially on the men’s side.  Now with two big weeks (at the NCAA Championships) ahead of us, we need to keep our focus with this meet now behind us.”
 
Roth, who is less than three weeks removed from winning the SEC Platform Championship in Athens, Ga., bounced back from a mishap on her first dive of prelims with a 64.00 off of the 10-meter.  Roth would eventually climb into eighth position with a 67.50 on her final attempt off of the tower and a 50.40 off of the seven-meter board on her final two attempts, respectively, in prelims.
 
Roth put up a 70.40 on her back 2 ½ somersault 1 ½ twist pike off of the 10-meter and averaged a 53.26 over her final five dives on the day to qualify in the fourth of six Zone B spots at the NCAA Championships.  Her fourth-place finish also qualifies her to compete in the 3-meter, after finishing ninth in the 3m finals on Monday night.
 
Lujan sat in qualifying position for most of the competition, with a slight hiccup on her third dive off of the seven-platform. She put up a total of 103.05 over her final two dives, each off of the 10-meter tower, to qualify for the event in 10^th-place.  Lujan finished eighth and sixth in the three-meter and one-meter competitions, respectively, necessitating only a 12^th-place finish to qualify on the platform.
 
Quotable- Head Diving Coach Todd Sherritt:
On Anton Down-Jenkins qualifying in both springboard events as a true freshman
“Anton had a great week qualifying on the 1-meter and and 3-meter– his fourth-place finish in the 1-meter was outstanding.  He hadn’t competed on the 1-meter much before coming to South Carolina and he’s caught up with the rest of the country really well this year.  His 3-meter was fantastic, receiving some nine’s on several of his dives on his way to a school record 12-dive score (792.30).”
On Marissa qualifying for NCAA’s as a fifth-year senior
“Marissa finished ninth in the 3-meter and needed to finish top-6 in the tower today.  She had a little bit of a rough start then came back and put some great dives together, putting her into fourth-place. It was a great comeback and a great finish for her senior year.”
On Mikaela Lujan qualifying in all three events
“Mikaela had a great week as well– qualifying in all three events is extremely difficult to do.  There’s very few three-event divers left that can perform on all three levels.  It’s extremely difficult physically competing all three days, but she went out and finished eighth in the 3-meter and turned around to finish sixth in the 1-meter the next night.  Then to come out and finish 10th in the tower was quite a feat.”

Carolina NCAA Qualifiers

# = Carolina School Record

Up Next
The women’s NCAA Championships will be hosted from March 20-23 at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.  The men’s championships will be hosted a week later, March, 27-30, at the same location on the campus of the University of Texas.

For more swimming updates, follow South Carolina Swimming and Diving on Twitter at @GamecockSwim.