BATON ROUGE, La. -- The LSU divers will compete for a chance to qualify for the NCAA National Championships at the three-day NCAA Zone 'D' Diving Regionals hosted at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston, Texas beginning on Monday.
Eight men and seven women will emerge from the field and earn a spot at the NCAA Championships through a qualifying process that involves final places on the one-meter, three-meter and platform.
"The competition is going to be the cream of the crop," Diving Coach Doug Shaffer said. "You take the Southeastern Conference Championships and you filter through that field, and then you have the elite of the region's divers fighting for eight spots and seven spots. Every day is going to be a new event. We've got one shot at it."
The first day of competition will begin with the men's one-meter springboard at 11 a.m. and the women's three-meter at 4:30 p.m. Zone 'D' Region consists of LSU, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Texas, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, TCU, Iowa State, Houston, Kansas, SMU, North Texas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota State, Texas A&M and Missouri State.
Last season, sophomore Alex Bettridge earned a spot at the NCAA Championships. Bettridge picked up NCAA Honorable-Mention All-American Honors after securing a top-16 finish at the national meet.
The LSU Diving program has already attained a high level of success this season. At the SEC Championships, LSU's divers all scored points and finished in the top-eight in seven events.
Cassie Weil was voted the SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year by the conference's coaches. Weil finished in the top-eight on the platform (271.85) and the three-meter (327.70) at the conference meet and set the program record on the three-meter (372.68) in her first collegiate meet.
Bettridge dove to fourth on the one-meter (301.85) at the conference meet.
Junior Sean McKinney broke the program three-meter record (415.50) earlier this season and finished fourth on the three-meter (391.40) at SEC's.
Junior Kevin Leong finished eighth on the one-meter (314.15) at the conference meet.
For live results, head to DiveMeets.com. Please visit LSUSports.net/fancage to stay connected to the program as the NCAA Championships approach.
