March 12, 2006
Lexington, Ky. - After three days at the Zone B Diving Championships, three Auburn divers have advanced to the NCAA Championships which are held over the next two weeks. On Sunday afternoon the platform was contested as junior Steve Segerlin picked up the win and classmate Lynnsey Segraves finished fourth.
"It was a great meet for us and I am really proud of our student-athletes stepping up," Auburn head coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We accomplished what we set out to do which was continuing to work on our skills and get to the NCAA Championships. I think we are heading into the NCAAs with a great deal of confidence, this is the toughest zone and we stepped up and performed well."
After two days in the runner up spot, Segerlin showed his strength on tower, going 791.10 for the win to mark three straight events that he will contest at the NCAA Championships on March 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga.
"Steve did some great dives and there was a couple mental lapses on a few of his dives but there was not a lot of pressure other than what he put on himself today as he already make NCAAs. It is easy to say and hard to do once you have already made the meet to have to go through the motions to be able to participate at NCAAs on all three events."
In the preliminary competition, Segerlin posted an 81.60 on a back 2.5 with 1.5 twists to close out his list and hold onto the lead heading into the final competition. In his first six dives he put together a 396.90 and followed that up with a 394.20 in the final six to take the win. The highlight of the men's competition came on his reverse 3.5 somersault in the finals where he scored an outstanding 88.40, the highest of the entire meet.
"He had an awesome back 3.5 in the first list," Shaffer said. "His back 2.5 with 1.5 twists in the prelims was the best he has done it in over a year and obviously getting nine's on a reverse 3.5 was an outstanding dive. If we can put all those best dives together within the two lists then we are right where he would want to be and where I want him to be at the NCAA Championships."
On the final day of competition, junior Lynnsey Segraves added her name to the NCAA list as she qualified with a fourth place finish on platform. Her 10-dive total equaled 481.05. In the final round Segraves bettered or equaled her marks on three of the five dives to secure her spot at the NCAA Championships next week.
"Lynnsey did an awesome job today," Shaffer said. "She had one of her better platform lists - prelims and finals - that she has done this year. Coming to this meet I knew that both our women were in the top nine and if they just performed what they were capable of doing they would advance. Lynnsey got a little help from Heather Bounds [Miami] in helping her get in the top nine but she also earned that spot based on how she placed in all three events."
Segraves' best dive of the day came on her second dive in both the prelim and final round as she scored a 56.70 on a forward 3.5 somersault with a 2.7 degree of difficulty. She also scored above the 50.00 mark on two other dives - back 1.5 somersault with 2 twists and back 2.5 somersault, both with a DD of 2.8.
Newcomer Corey Gerlach, who already earned a spot on the NCAA team after winning 3-meter on Saturday and finishing third on 1-meter on the opening day of competition, competed on tower as well. Her combined score from prelim and finals was 311.45 as she only dove off the 5-meter.
"What a big boost to our women's program to have two divers at the NCAA Championships," Shaffer said. "This will be the first time that Auburn will ever have two female divers at NCAAs. We are real proud of that and of them."
Complete results from all three days of competition can be found on the Kentucky web site at www.ukathletics.com.