March 12, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – University of Notre Dame senior diver Allison Casareto secured her first trip to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday afternoon, as she finished eighth on the 3-meter board at the NCAA Zone C meet on the campus of Ohio State University.
Casareto finished with 613.70 points after placing sixth in the prelims with 309.60 points to automatically qualify for the event at NCAAs. She will join senior swimmer Emma Reaney at next weekend’s NCAA meet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“Allison had a solid performance during both the preliminary and final round,” said Irish head diving coach Caiming Xie. “I told her before the day started that she was one of the top divers in our zone, and if she believes it, she can get it (qualify). She was pretty confident during the meet. I am very glad she made nationals.”
“Being able to compete at NCAAs is something I’m sure any athlete dreams of doing,” said Casaeto. “I have always had an immense amount of respect for those who compete at this particular level, and to be able to qualify during the final season of my career is the ultimate high note for me personally. I am so honored to be diving with those that I have such respect for especially while bearing the interlocking ND and representing such a great University together with my amazing teammate Emma Reaney. The icing on the cake would be if my fellow diving teammates will be competing with me, but of course that will all be determined in the next few days of zones.”
With the new rules in place for the zone meet this year, Casareto is only qualified for the 3-meter, and would have to also qualify on the 1-meter Friday to compete in both events at NCAAs.
For the Zone C meet, nine student-athletes qualified on the 3-meter, while eight will qualify on the 1-meter and platform, respectively. However, a diver has to individually qualify for each event they wish to compete in at NCAAs.
Casareto is the first Irish diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships since former teammate Jenny Chiang in 2013.
Junior Lindsey Streepey just missed out on automatically qualifying for the national meet, as she finished 10th with 602.00 points.
Fellow junior Emma Gaboury claimed 13th with 578.95 points, while freshman Annie Crea finished 38th with 224.55 points.
Tomorrow, the four Irish diving standouts will compete on the 1-meter. Follow @NDDiving for updated results.
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Media Relations Director
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