Divers Finish Day Two of NCAA Zones
Women’s 1m Preliminaries | Women’s 3m Preliminaries
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sara Rogers was UNM’s top finisher in the women’s 1-meter dive and Natasha Dark took those same honors in the 3-meter dive as UNM finished off day two of the NCAA Zone E Championships in Federal Way, Washington. The championships are being hosted by the University of Utah. The platform dive is the final event on Wednesday.
On Monday in the 1-meter, it was Rogers who was UNM’s top finisher, coming in 28th place with a score of 229.45. The top 18 divers advanced to the finals. Rogers opened with her best dive, an inward 1 1/2 somersault pike, and her score of 48.00 was 12th-best in the round. Her forward 1 1/2 somersault pike also scored well, gaining her 39.00 points for 24th-best.
Jocelyn Gallais finished second among UNM’s three divers, and 38th overall with a 210.40 overall score. Her best dive was her third, an inward 1 1/2 somersault pike that scored 43.20 points, 11th-best in the round. That dive pushed her near the qualifying zone, but she fell out of contention late. Dark finished 44th overall with a 207.75. Her best dive also was good for 12th-best in the fifth round, a forward 2 1/2 somersault pike. That was her second straight 40+ point dive, but she couldn’t move up enough to get into 18th.
On Tuesday, Dark turned it around to be UNM’s top diver, as just she and Rogers qualified for the event. Dark finished 33rd with a 234.6 score over the six dives. Dark, a senior, will rue her second dive, the only one of her six not to be a 40+ point dive. That second dive cost her valuable points. She tried to make up for it. After scoring just 20.7 on her second, she put up four straight brilliant dives, scoring 48.6, 40.8, 43.2 and 40.6, the final a backwards 1 1/2 somersault 2 1/2 twist that held her highest degree of difficulty. Ultimately she fell short of the finals, by just just over 30 points.
Rogers was solid as well, coming in 39th at 220.05. Her best dive was her first, a back 1 1/2 somersault 1 1/2 twist free, which scored 44.40 points.
The Zones conclude with the platform dive on Wednesday.