After a strong showing at the men’s and women’s Big Ten Championships, three UW divers are ready to showcase their talents this weekend at the NCAA Region C Diving Zone Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. The meet is the last step in qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Zone C is one of the toughest zones in the nation. The meet will feature schools from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Junior tri-captain Amanda Witte and freshman siblings Josh and Justin Bonner will all be in contention for a bid to the NCAA Championships.
“We have our work cut out for us,” head men’s and women’s diving coach Josh Seykora said. “I’d like to see us improve on our standings from Big Tens and overall dive better. Hopefully move up in every event.”
Zone C was allocated only 14 spots, seven for the men and seven for the women. The allocations are based on performances at last year’s NCAA Championships. Since Zone C was poorly represented last year, few divers will get a chance to represent their schools at the NCAA Championships. A total of 35 divers from all the zones will qualify for this year’s men’s championships, while 41 divers will qualify for the women’s championships.
Individuals can advance to the NCAAs by qualifying on one board or by accumulating a certain number of points over the weekend on all three boards. Once a diver qualifies, they can compete on all the boards at the NCAA Championships.
Witte has the best chance of all three Badgers to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the platform event. Last month at the Big Ten Championships, she finished No.13 in that event. She is also the school record holder in platform.
“It’s going to be a really tough weekend,” Witte said. “I think I’m just going to go in there and basically try and do better than last year and to be more consistent than Big Tens. Even though this is going to be a hard year, I want to get in there and really put my spot in for next year, even though this year is not out of the question, I really want to be there for next year.”
This meet will be a first for the Bonners. Both are anticipating their first zone championships.
“There is no team scoring,” said Justin. “It’s all about going in there and doing your dives. You want to walk out of there satisfied, knowing you did all your dives and put everything on your head. That’s what you want from this meet. The goal is to make it to NCAAs, so you just have to have the mindset that you are going to get it and hit your dives.
Witte and the Bonners will each participate in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform diving events. The 1-meter competition begins today, followed by the 3-meter on Saturday and platform on Sunday.
Seykora would like to see his Badgers end their season on a high note. He is hoping his team will have a positive attitude and remain competitive throughout the competition. “They need to pay attention to detail and beat a few people from some of the powerhouses; that would be great. If Amanda could make the cut and make finals that would be a high note for us and would set us up for a good year next year.”
Indiana will provide the most competition for the Badgers. At last month’s Big Ten Championships, the IU women divers scored 196 of their team’s 497 points, while the men accumulated 229 of 717 points.
“Anything could happen at Zones,” said Seykora. “Amanda could have a great meet and the door could open to NCAAs. That is definitely the goal for next year.”
