UCLA
NCAA Zone E Diving Championships
Neave Earns NCAA Double Qualification at Zones
March 10, 2020 | Swimming & Diving
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. โ Junior Ruby Neave placed sixth with a score of 623.30 to highlight the UCLA dive team's second day at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center.
Neave's top-six finish earned her a second NCAA qualification after her runner-up finish in the 1M competition on Monday. She is the Bruins' first double qualifier for NCAAs this season.
Freshman Hannah Butler narrowly missed out on joining Neave in the double qualifier club. Needing to finish in the top-12 of the 3M championship following her 1M qualification from Monday, Butler placed 14th at 561.05, less than nine points behind the 12th place finisher (Lizze De Cecco, Utah).
Making her NCAA Zones debut, freshman Katie Shaheen just missed out on the finals, placing 20th in the prelims with a score of 260.35. The top-18 divers in prelims were invited back for the finals session.
After finishing 10th in prelims with a score of 285.45, Neave squarely moved herself off the bubble with an outstanding performance in finals, logging a season-best score of 337.85. In her finals list, she scored at least 50 points on all six dives including 60.75 or higher on her last two attempts. Except for a slight dip on her third attempt, she improved her score on each successive dive throughout finals.
Butler was on the bubble for double qualification for most of the finals session, sitting in 12th as late as the conclusion of the fourth round. However, she dropped to 14th after scoring a 35.00 on her fifth dive.
At the conclusion of Tuesday's competition, UCLA has secured five NCAA qualifications: Ruby Neave (1M diving, 3M diving), Kenisha Liu (200 free), Claire Grover (50 free), and Amy Okada (200 fly).
The Bruins conclude action at Zones on Wednesday with the platform championship. Prelims for that event are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. with finals following at approximately 1:15 p.m.
Players Mentioned
