AUBURN, Ala. – Head diving coach John Fox and the Auburn Tigers look to earn the right to compete at the NCAA Championships later this month, hosting the Zone B Championships, March 9-12 inside James E. Martin Aquatic Center.
Action begins with the men’s 1-meter competition at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, March 9. Live results throughout the week will be available on Dive Meets.
Fox’s group has been stellar throughout the 2024-25 campaign racking up 15 individual wins in dual meets and nine top 10 dives in program history. In total, 13 Auburn student-athletes hit qualifying marks to compete at Zones
The week will feature Abigail Farrar, Kyleigh Kidd, Kayla Walsh, Chloe Brothers, Emily Hallifax, Ava Jendritz, Campbell Long, Whit Andrus, Talan Blackmon, Alex Just, David Hatt, Travis Keith and Ethan Swart.
Hallifax and Brothers put on a show at the SEC Championships last month in Athens, Georgia. The duo each qualified for finals on platform with Hallifax finishing fifth with a 303.40. Brothers earned her place in finals after a 302.30 in prelims, making the freshman the fourth-highest performer in program history.
Back in December at the AU Diving Invite, Hallifax scared the school record on platform, scoring a 318.30 for the second-highest score ever for the Orange and Blue. The Nice, France product also put up a 318.98 on 1-meter in October at UNCW to make her the fifth-highest performer in the event.
Farrar and Kidd also boast top 10 dives this season. Farrar’s 310.20 on 1-meter at the SMU Classic moved her up to the No. 8 spot while Kidd sits seventh in the 3-meter after 339.75 at Georgia Tech and jumped to No. 9 on platform with a 272.05 at the AU Diving Invite.
Freshman Ethan Swart was tabbed SEC Diver in the week after sweeping the springboard events at North Carolina. Swart went for career bests in both events (324.68 on 1-meter and 380.55 on 3-meter) announcing himself early to the Southeastern Conference.
Swart would better his effort on 1-meter, scoring a 383.18 against Alabama to move to No. 5 all-time at Auburn. Meanwhile, Talan Blackmon secured a pair of top 10 dives against South Carolina, moving to No. 9 in the 3-meter with a 392.03 and No. 10 in the 1-meter after a 369.22.
Senior Whit Andrus was as steady as ever, finding all three of his top zones cuts at the Georgia Tech Invite in November. For the third straight season, Andrus also found himself in a final at the SEC Championships, earning seventh in the 1-meter with a 340.10.
Below are the number of qualifying spots in each discipline and the full schedule of events:
Women
1-meter – 9
3-meter – 7
Platform – 7
Men
1-meter – 7
3-meter – 8
Platform – 6
Any diver that is eligible to compete as noted above will be allowed to optionally enter any other event(s) at the championships, provided that the diver finished in the top 12 at the same zone meet and has achieved the zone qualifying score for that event prior to the NCAA Championships.
Sunday, March 9
11 a.m. CT – Men’s 1-meter prelims
1:30 p.m. CT – Men’s 1-meter finals
Monday, March 10
11 a.m. CT – Women’s 1-meter prelims
1:45 p.m. CT – Women’s 1-meter finals
3:45 p.m. CT – Men’s 3-meter prelims
6 p.m. CT – Men’s 3-meter finals
Tuesday, March 11
11 a.m. CT – Women’s 3-meter prelims
1:30 p.m. CT – Women’s 3-meter finals
3:30 p.m. CT – Men’s Platform prelims
5:15 p.m. CT – Men’s Platform finals
Wednesday, March 12
11 a.m. CT – Women’s Platform prelims
12:30 p.m. CT – Women’s Platform finals