March 9, 2016
Scott Lazeroff finished his first NCAA Zone Diving Championships with a fourth-place finish on the platform, making him eligible to compete on all three boards at the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
Lazeroff, a freshman, scored a 343.55 in prelims to put him into the finals in fifth. He finished the day with a score of 702.80, placing fourth.
"The Zone meet is often survive and advance," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "There is a lot of pressure to secure a spot to help with team numbers and points at NCAAs. We now have a week-and-a-half to fine tune our dives and prepare for NCAAs."
Lazeroff had previously finished ninth on the 1-meter and 10th on the 3-meter. He will be joined on the springboard events by Justin Youtsey, who was second on the 1-meter and fifth on the 3-meter at the Zone Championships.
"Both Justin and Scott did a great job of meeting our primary goal of advancing, Justin for the second year in a row and Scott for qualifying to compete as a freshman at NCAAs," Shaffer said.
Pete Turnham finished 19th on the platform (272.65) and Maddie Cox was 24th on the platform (204.50) to end their sophomore seasons.
The women's NCAA Championships are March 16-19 and the men's championships are March 23-26. Both meets are being held at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center.