TicketsCINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati swimming and diving program will send three divers to the NCAA Diving Zone Championships this weekend in Bloomington, Ind.
In addition, 23 Bearcat swimmers will compete in the CSCAA National Invitational Championships in Elkhart, Ind.
// NCAA DIVING ZONE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sophomore Will Claus and freshmen Alex Givens and Preston Landolt will aim to qualify for the 2023 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships as they are set to compete in the 2023 NCAA Diving Zone C Championships in Bloomington, Ind., this weekend.
Claus qualified to compete in all three events, 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform, this weekend. This will be Claus's second trip to the zone championships and he will look to improve on last year's performance, where he placed 25th on the 1-meter springboard, 32nd in the 3-meter springboard, and 25th on the 10-meter platform.
At the American Athletic Conference Championships, the Cleveland, Ohio native earned a silver medal on the platform event with a score of 331.50.
Freshman duo Givens and Landolt will each make their first appearance at the zone championships. Givens will compete in the 3-meter event and Landolt qualified for the 1-meter event.
DATES AND TIMES
Indiana will host the championship inside the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center. The meet will begin on Thursday, March 9 and conclude on Saturday, March 11. Events and start times can be found below.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING PROCEDURES
Divers will qualify for the NCAA Championships based on performances at their respective zone meet. The top four male divers from each event at their respective zone diving championship will be eligible to compete at the NCAA Championships. Additional place finishers in each event at each zone will be eligible based on the number of student-athletes from that zone who finished in the top 16 in that event at the previous year's contested or completed NCAA Championships. All eligible divers must have achieved the zone qualifying score prior to the NCAA championships in all events they wish to participate.
SCHEDULE AND QUALIFYING NUMBERS
Thursday, March 9
1 p.m. - Men's 1m/Women's 3m
(15-minute break b/w list to cut to top 18)
*Top 9 Men & Top 9 Women Qualify
Friday, March 10
1 p.m. - Men's 3m/Women's 1m
(15-minute break b/w list to cut to top 18)
*Top 8 Men & Top 10 Women Qualify
Saturday, March 11
11 a.m. - Men's Platform
(15-minute break b/w list to cut to top 18)
*Women's platform to follow
*Top 12 Men & Top 11 Women Qualify
// CSCAA NATIONAL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati men's and women's swimming and diving teams are in full postseason mode as they head to Elkhart, Ind., for the 2023 CSCAA National Invitational Championships (NIC) from Thursday to Saturday at the Beacon Health Aquatic Center in Elkhart, Ind.
DATES AND TIMES
The NIC provides a culminating event for those Division I swimmers and divers that have achieved B/Zone standards but are not selected for the NCAA Division I Championships. Each day of the competition, preliminary rounds will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by finals at 6 p.m. A complete schedule of events can be found here.
Including Cincinnati, 24 NCAA Division 1 teams from across the nation will be competing at the NIC. The Bearcats are sending a total of 23 student-athletes (12 women and 11 men) to Elkhart, Ind. The complete roster for NIC is listed below. Some Bearcats to watch this weekend include NCAA 100-yard breaststroke qualifier freshman Joliegh Crye and AAC Most Outstanding Men's Swimmer of the Year junior Hunter Gubeno.
UC MEN'S ROSTER
Hunter Gubeno, Tommy Eaton, Collin Singler, Jet Fuhrmann, Brogan Robinson, Alex Gonzalez, Maksim Maskalenka, Thomas Matthew, Chris Brown, Mohamed Abdelbaky, Jason Allen
UC WOMEN'S ROSTER
Joleigh Crye, Jessica Davis, Kaylee Nagel, Meghan Fleury, Lily Jones, Grace Gavin, Sophie Curtis, Ella Chown, Maddy Hensler, Payton Woodring, Ingrid Fretz, Logan Lawhorn
LAST TIME AT THE CSCAA NATIONAL INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
At the 2022 NIC, the UC men's team placed eighth overall out of 30 teams. Senior Michael Balcerak led the way by winning the 200-yard butterfly, touching the wall in 1:44.04. Teammate junior Tommy Eaton was not far behind, placing third in 1:45.56.
Balcerak also placed third in the 100-yard butterfly in 46.89 and sixth in the 50-yard butterfly in 21.50. Junior Drew Hawthorne finished eighth in the 50-yard butterfly (21.70).
Gubeno finished second in the men's 200m IM finals with a time of 1:47.07. He also placed third in the 200m backstroke, clocking a time of 1:44.09. Gubeno picked up a seventh-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke (22.41) and an eighth-place mark in the 100-yard backstroke (48.53).
Also, advancing to an 'A' final was senior Spencer Sehlhorst, who finished ninth in the finals for the 400-yard IM (3:54.73).