Florida adds another representative at next week’s NCAA Championships with Ashley McCool’s automatic bid on the 1-meter.
GAINESVILLE, Fla.- Ashley McCool punched her ticket to the 2020 Women’s Swimming and Diving NCAA Championships on the 1-meter springboard after the first day of the NCAA Diving Zones at the Gabrielsen Natatorium in Athens, Ga.
With only seven guaranteed spots available, McCool combined for the third-highest overall score of 577.85, giving her an automatic bid into the event at the NCAA’s Championships on March 18-21.
She headed into the final round as the third seed after tallying a prelim score of 282.85. She would go on to improve on her morning tally by 12.15 points to produce a score of 295.00 in the final round.
Elizabeth Perez and Brooke Madden also joined her in finals after the pair both posted top-18 preliminary scores.
Perez would go on to earn a ninth-place finish with a combined effort of 564.95 after recording a new personal-best score of 294.05 in the finals, 23.15 points better than her preliminary score.
She still has the opportunity to compete in the event at NCAA’s if she is able to finish in the top-seven in the 3-meter on Tuesday or the top-eight on the platform on Wednesday since she accumulated a top-12 finish today.
Madden would post a six-dive score of 279.10 in the finals, good for a combined point total of 535.70 and a 14th-place finish overall. She moved into the finals after collecting the last finals spot with a score of 256.60 in the prelims.
Abigail Howell was the fourth and final Gator to compete during day one, compiling a prelim score of 221.20, good for 38th-place.
Quotables-
Head diving coach Bryan Gillooly- “Solid start today. This competition is difficult in so many ways. With 50- plus divers in the event and only seven guaranteed spots, the pressure and length of the contest is very unique. Ashley was very good in the prelim and even better in the final getting the automatic spot. Elizabeth went big with a new difficult dive in her list and got a PR in the prelim and bettered that score again in the final. Being in the top-12 means she can still qualify if she gets in the top-seven on 3-meter or (top-eight on) platform. Although Brooke came up just short of that mark, she still has two strong events to get in there. All six girls are competing tomorrow and it’s pretty wide open.”
Meet Schedule
Day
Event (time)
TUESDAY
Men’s 1-meter Prelims (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
BREAK
Men’s 1-meter Finals (1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.)
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Women’s 3-meter Finals (3:30 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.)
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Women’s 3-meter Finals (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY
Men’s Platform Prelims (10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.)
BREAK
Men’s Platform Finals (11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.)
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Women’s Platform Prelims (2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.)
BREAK
Women’s Platform Finals (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Qualification Spots Per Zone
1-Meter
3-Meter
Platform
Zone A
5
6
5
Zone B
7
7
8
Zone C
7
6
10
Zone D
10
13
9
Zone E
12
9
9
