March 7, 2012
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AUBURN, Ala. - Two Auburn divers recorded personal-best scores as the 2012 NCAA Zone B Diving Regional wrapped up Wednesday afternoon at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
The Tigers qualified a total of three divers to their respective NCAA Championships over the three-day meet. Seniors Vennie Dantin and Anna Aguero will represent Auburn as it hosts NCAA Women's Championships next week, March 15-17, at the Martin Aquatics Center, and sophomore John Santieu will compete for the Tiger men at the NCAA Men's Championships March 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash.
"I think Auburn represented itself well and hosted a great Zone competition," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Everybody was pleased with the facility and the management of the meet. Our divers that advanced to the NCAAs - Vennie, Anna and John - will have an excellent opportunity to contribute to our team's success."
Santeiu earned another runner-up finish, this time in the platform event, posting a 12-dive total of 718.05 to finish second to Tennessee's Mauricio Robles, who scored a 723.35. The top three in Wednesday's final were identical to the top three at the SEC Championships with Robles taking the title, Santeiu second and Florida's Michael Lewark third.
Auburn senior Adam Godzinski also made the most of what would be his final collegiate meet as he shattered his career-best on the platform with a 323.45 to take sixth place in the preliminaries. He then posted a total score of 619.55 in the final to take ninth place overall.
"Adam did a great first list, a personal best," Shaffer said. "A couple days ago, before the meet, I asked them to look at what their personal bests were and what their dives were that they had performed in various meets throughout the year and see what the potential was. My only challenge to them was to put themselves in a position to achieve personal bests. Some did, and some came just a little short of the mark. It's a learning experience."
Freshman Fraser McKean recorded a score of 677.95 to earn a sixth-place finish in the final, moving up one spot from his position after prelims. And fellow freshman Michael Beran made the platform final as well, giving Auburn one-third of the 12-diver field; he would post a 599.25 to finish 11th.
For the Auburn women, freshmen Cinzia Calabretta had the best performance of her young career, earning a fifth-place finish in the platform final with a 10-dive total of 530.30. Her preliminary round score of 267.15 shattered her previous career-best. However, she came up just one spot shy of earning a trip to next week's NCAA Championships.
The top four spots ended up earning bids to the championship meet. Tennessee's Tori Lamp, the SEC Champion on platform, took another title with a 619.10, while Dantin finished second with a 592.15. Florida State's Katrina Young was third with a 564.05, and NC State's Hannah Hopkins earned the final qualifying position with a 542.00, just 12 points ahead of fifth-place Calabretta.
"Cinzia did a great job," Shaffer said. "We worked all year long to get her back and reverse two-and-a-halves consistent. She hit all four of them, and she really challenged the divers that were ahead of her to step up and hit their dives. It is bittersweet in that she missed the opportunity to make NCAAs, but I couldn't be more proud of her effort and her improvement this year." Aguero also advanced to the platform final, scoring a 494.65 to finish in seventh place overall. Freshman Shanna Schuelein finished in 17th place in the preliminaries, scoring a 216.25.
A full list of the NCAA Championships qualifiers from Zone B is below.
Auburn will play host to the 2012 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships next week as the meet runs March 15-17 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. Reserved, all-session tickets are sold out, but a limited number of single-session, standing-room-only tickets will be available at the aquatics center ticket office before each session.
NCAA ZONE B DIVING - NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIERS
WOMEN (10 qualifying spots)
Tori Lamp, Tennessee
Vennie Dantin, Auburn
Courtney Forcucci, South Carolina
Anna Aguero, Auburn
Thea Vock, Miami
Kara McCormack, Miami
Katrina Young, Florida State
Ariel Rittenhouse, Florida State
Jodie McGroarty, Tennessee
Hannah Hopkins, NC State
MEN (8 qualifying spots)
Mauricio Robles, Tennessee
Samuel Dorman, Miami
Thomas Neubacher, Florida State
John Santeiu, Auburn
Ryan Helms, Tennessee
David MacDonald, North Carolina
Brent Sterling, Tennessee
Michael Lewark, Florida