March 13, 2017
By Sinhue Mendoza
NOTRE DAME, Indiana – The University of Notre Dame duo of freshman Claire Andrews and junior Joe Coumos each qualified for the 2017 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships.
Andrews qualified in the 1 meter following a sixth-place finish in NCAA Zone C. She registered a score of 558.05. Coumos qualified in the 3 meter with a seventh-place score of 723.55 in NCAA Zone C. He made school history last month in the 3 meter with the program’s first-ever ACC Diving Championship.
Divers qualify for the NCAA Championships through zone meets in different regions of the country. Each regional zone earns a set number of NCAA qualifying spots based on the performances at past NCAA championships.
Notre Dame competed in Zone C , which was hosted by Indiana University. Women’s action in Zone C advanced eight in the 1 meter, nine in the 3 meter and seven in the platform, while the men’s competition saw five advance in the 1 meter, seven in the 3 meter and seven in the platform.
COACH Caiming Xie’S THOUGHTS
On the Zone C Diving Championships…
“The NCAA Zone C Diving Championship is the strongest diving zone in the country. There were four Olympians in our zone alone, which made it an extremely competitive and challenging zone to qualify for the NCAAs.”
On Joe Coumos…
“Joe had a difficult 1 meter list and missed qualification by two spots. After the 1 meter result, he decided to fight that much harder in the 3 meter. Joe was pretty consistent in the 3 meter with some really strong dives, and was able to earn the last spot.”
On Claire Andrews…
“Claire was strong mentally and dove with confidence. She put her dives together in both the preliminary and finals, and secured a spot for her first National Championships.”
HOW TO FOLLOW
The 2017 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships will be held March 15-18 (women) and March 22-25 (men). Both championships will be at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.
WOMEN
ESPN3.com will stream the finals sessions live on Friday and Saturday. Wednesday’s evening session, Thursday’s sessions along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour broadcast via tape delay at 7 p.m. ET, Tuesday, March 28. Live results for the championships will be available on NCAA.com.
MEN
ESPN3.com will stream the finals sessions live on Friday and Saturday. Wednesday’s evening session, Thursday’s sessions along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on NCAA.com and indianasportscorp.org/ncaasd. Additionally, ESPNU will air a broadcast via tape delay at 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday, April 5. Live results for the championships will be available on NCAA.com.
Notre Dame fans can also follow each team on their respective Twitter account, @NDMensswimdive and @NDWSwimdive, with a complete recap posted to und.com at the conclusion of the meet.