March 2, 2007
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Notre Dame’s Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) placed seventh and eighth, respectively, off the one-meter board during the first day of action at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships on Friday afternoon in the Canham Natatorium. The duo, along with teammate Steven Crowe (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport), will return to the pool tomorrow for the three-meter competition beginning at 11:00 a.m. (ET). The Zone meet determines who qualifies for the NCAA Championships.
Bulfin entered the final round on Friday in eighth place after totaling 289.30 points during the morning’s preliminary session. Stoner was close behind in ninth with 288.30 points, while Crowe did not advance to the finals after placing 24th with 241.10 points.
Ohio State’s Hugh Showe was first after the prelims with 334.50 points.
Stoner, a junior, concluded the final round with 600.25 points to place seventh, while the sophomore Bulfin was eighth with a grand total of 597.20 points. Kellen Harkness from Ohio State took first with 645.80 points, while his teammate Showe was second with 644.50 points.
This marked Stoner’s highest-ever finish at an NCAA Zone Championship. He placed 10th off the one-meter and 17th off the three-meter last season. Bulfin qualified for the 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships with his point total off the three-meter board at last season’s NCAA Zone meet. He registered 634.40 points to place fourth in the event. Crowe, a junior, is competing at the Zone Championships for the first time in his career.
Based on their finishes at the zone meet, seven men from Zone C will qualify for the NCAA Championships. To fill one of those seven spots a diver can either place first or second on the one- or three-meter springboard or win the platform event. If a diver has already qualified for the NCAA Championships based on his finish in another event, the next-place diver will qualify. For example, if the platform winner also wins the three-meter event, the second-place finisher in the three-meter event will qualify for NCAAs.
Saturday’s action at the 2007 NCAA Zone C Diving Championships will feature the men’s three-meter competition. Preliminaries begin at 11:00 a.m. (ET), with the finals to commence at 1:45 p.m. Sunday’s final day will showcase platform diving. Round-by-round live results of the event can be found at divemeets.com.
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