ATHENS, Ga. – Alison Maillard and Conner Pruitt are both headed back to the NCAA Championships. The Auburn duo secured their spots Monday on the first day of competition at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships.
Maillard was the first to punch her ticket in the women's 1-meter event where she turned in two solid lists and scored 571.25 points to finish fifth overall. The senior entered the finals in ninth place, two spots from making the cut, but her second list (297.00) moved her up the leaderboard and clinched her spot at NCAAs.
Pruitt jumped out to a quick start in the men's 3-meter competition with 386.35 points to finish second in prelims. He put together another solid list in the finals and scored a total of 764.50 points to take fourth overall. The top eight qualified for the men.
Though Skip Donald and Logan Andrews missed the cut for NCAAs, both divers made the Zones finals on 3-meter and finished 15th and 17th respectively.
"The guys just did an outstanding job," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Conner obviously – to put two solid lists together and advance. Skip in his first NCAA Zone meet was 15th, a really solid performance, and Logan also did an outstanding job. To have three in the top 18 was really special. I was very pleased and proud of their effort today, and it got us off to the start that we needed in a three-day, really brutal meet."
On the women's side, freshmen Ashlynn Sullivan and Gretchen Wensuc also competed well in what was their first experience at the NCAA Zones meet. Both placed in the top 30 in prelims and now hope to build on that performance the rest of the week.
All six Auburn divers will be back on the boards Tuesday with hopes of qualifying for NCAAs. The women will compete on 3-meter while the men will move to the 1-meter.
"For both Alison and Conner, this allows them to relax in the next two events because now they only have to be top 12 in those events to qualify for that event at the NCAA Championships, and it may open up the door for some of our other kids to get in there," Shaffer said.
The action will begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. CT with the men's 1-meter event.
RESULTS
Women's 1-meter
5. Alison Maillard – 571. 25
25. Ashlynn Sullivan – 242.15 (Prelims)
27. Gretchen Wensuc – 238.15 (Prelims)
Men's 3-meter
4. Conner Pruitt – 764.50
15. Skip Donald – 679.15
17. Logan Andrews – 660.10