Liberty to Send 3 Divers to NCAA Zone Championships
3/5/2023 9:28:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Liberty will send three divers to compete in the 2023 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, held this week at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Junior Meagan Tuohy and sophomore Grace Gooding will contest the one-meter springboard on Tuesday. Freshman Mary Herndon will compete on three-meter on Monday. Junior Maddie Freece qualified for the meet but will be unable to compete this week.
Liberty's divers will be competing to earn spots in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, which will be held in Knoxville, Tenn., March 15-18.
The NCAA Zone Championships will begin on Monday with women's three-meter springboard and will continue on Tuesday with one-meter springboard. Platform will be contested on Wednesday. Each day's competition will begin at noon.
Liberty's divers have competed at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park this season, diving at the WVU Invite in November.
How to Follow the Lady Flames
Live results will be available through DiveMeets.com. Also, a live video stream will be available on YouTube.
What's at Stake
Zone A will receive five qualifications to the NCAA Championships in one-meter and six in three-meter diving, based off of last year's performance by Zone A divers at nationals.
The top 18 divers from morning prelims will qualify for evening finals, with all scores carrying over. Each of those 18 divers will complete their full allotment of six dives in the evening, and the top combined scores from morning and evening will advance to nationals.
There will be 99 entrants in one-meter diving and 80 in three-meter.
Three of last year's NCAA qualifiers in one-meter are back in Zone A this year, in Victoria Franz of Buffalo, Savana Trueb from Rutgers and Virginia's Jennifer Bell. Franz, Trueb and Virginia's Elizabeth Kaye and Charlotte Bowen all return after qualifying for NCAA's on three-meter last year.
Last year, Teagan Moravek of Virginia Tech won one-meter with 610.70 points, while the final national qualifier out of Zone A was Virginia's Jennifer Bell who scored 559.25. Freece scored 482.95 for 14th place on one-meter springboard.
Also, at the 2022 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, Rutgers' Abigail Knapton had the top three-meter score, at 648.90. The final qualifier for nationals was Virginia's Charlotte Bowen (589.45). Maddie Freece scored 526.45 points, good for 17th place.
How They Qualified
This is the fifth straight year that Liberty will be represented at Zones. In 2021, Freece finished a program-best ninth on three-meter and 14th on one-meter at the Zone Championships. Gooding, Herndon and Tuohy will all make their Zone debuts.
Freece is a two-time CCSA Women's Diver of the Year, winning one-meter diving and finishing third on one-meter at the 2022 CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships. She added a fifth career CCSA podium finish this season, qualifying for Zones with her 295.25 from the A Final, where she finished third. Freece was named CCSA Diver of the Week twice this season.
Tuohy earned her spot at the Zone Championships on her last chance this season. She scored 268.20 in the one-meter A Final at the CCSA Championships, earning both her first qualification to Zones along with her first top eight conference finish (sixth). Her effort ranks fifth in program history in the event.
Gooding punched her ticket to the Zone Championships on Jan. 7 at ECU, when she scored a career-high 266.78 points on one-meter springboard. That score ranks sixth all-time on Liberty's top 10 performers list. She finished ninth on one-meter at the 2023 CCSA Championships.
Herndon has had a standout freshman season, highlighted by her 309.75 three-meter score against VMI on Jan. 13. That effort, which ranks second in program history, earned Herndon her trip to Morgantown this week. She placed seventh on three-meter at the 2023 CCSA meet. Herndon was named CCSA Diver of the Week on Jan. 17.
Liberty's divers are attempting to qualify for the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, held March 15-18 at Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn.
