March 7, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame’s diving duo of Allison Casareto and Jenny Chiang head to the 2012 NCAA Zone C Diving Championships this weekend in Bloomington, Ind., looking to earn a bid to next weekend’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Auburn, Ala.
The competition, which will be held at Indiana University’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center, will get underway on Thursday at 1 p.m. with the women’s 1-meter, with the women’s 3-meter scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. The top seven unique divers will earn a spot at nationals.
Divers qualify based on their finishes in the three events. For example, the platform winner, 3-meter winner and 1-meter winner would earn the top three spots. The 3-meter runner-up would claim the fourth spot, with the 1-meter runner-up fifth on the grid. The 3-meter third-place finisher gets spot No. 6, while the third-place finisher on the 1-meter gets the No. 7 slot.
Should the same diver finish first on both the 1-meter and 3-meter, for example, they would keep going down the qualification list until seven different divers have been selected.
Chiang is coming off her third consecutive BIG EAST title in the 3-meter and a third place finish in the 1-meter. Casareto finished second in the 1-meter and seventh in the 3-meter. For their efforts, Chiang earned a pair of all-BIG EAST awards, while Casareto earned one.
The pair are looking to become the first Notre Dame divers to qualify for the NCAAs since Natalie Stitt advanced in the 1-meter in 2009.
A link for live results will be available on UND.com for fans that can’t make the trip to Bloomington.
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