March 13, 2010
ATLANTA, Ga. - The second day of diving competition concluded Saturday at the 2010 NCAA Zone B Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.
There are five Zone meets taking place this weekend across the country and these meets give divers a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Zone B will qualify eight women and seven men for the national meet. The women's NCAA Championships will be March 18-20 in West Lafayette, Ind., and the men will compete in Columbus, Ohio, March 25-27.
Competing on the three-meter springboard were sophomores Anna Aguero, Vennie Dantin and Mary Catherine Cochran. Dantin had the best finish for the Tigers, coming in eighth with a score of 590.20. Aguero was 13th overall (572.95), while Cochran competed in the preliminaries and finished 30th (207.90).
"The women were a little off today," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Both Anna and Vennie missed a couple of dives and will now have to really perform on the platform tomorrow. They both have chances to qualify so Sunday will be a big day for them."
A pair of men represented Auburn on the one-meter in senior Kelly Marx and freshman Thad Ellis. Marx, who qualified for the NCAA meet yesterday, finished third in the event with a score of 727.95. Ellis came in eighth with 634.10 points.
"Thad did a good job today," Shaffer said. "I was really pleased with how he performed his second list and he has a lot to build on for tomorrow and next season."
The NCAA Zone B meet concludes Sunday with the men and women's platform event. Live results can be found at www.divemeets.com.