Swimming Weekly Release

Carpenter and McDowell Make NCAA Diving Fields as Zone Meets Conclude in Buffalo

Meili Carpenter

Sophomores Meili Carpenter (Boulder, CO/Fairview) and Michael McDowell (Rush, NY/Rush Henrietta) became the first University at Buffalo divers to qualify for the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships since the school moved into the top echelon of college athletics with their performances in the platform competition at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships on Sunday. Five men and five women from Zone A move on to the national competition following the three-day regional meet at UB?s Alumni Arena Natatorium.

Carpenter Nails Down Platform Win

Meili Carpenter won the women's platform event with a 10-dive total score of 413.90 points. Lisa Faulkner of George Mason was second at 384.60 and Katie Griffin of Navy third at 347.80. The trio were the only entrants in the women's competition with the winner guaranteed a spot in the women's national championship meet in Columbus, OH this weekend.

Carpenter entered the finals of the platform event in second place after a preliminary score of 194.85 points for her first five dives. She tallied a total of 219.05 in the finals, the highest total of the three entrants, to take the title. Earlier in the meet, Carpenter finished fifth on the one-meter springboard (530.70) and sixth on the three-meter springboard (560.45).

McDowell Earns First Trip to Nationals

Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell was the second-place finisher in the men's platform event as five divers comprised the field with the top two finishers earning a trip to the men's championships in Federal Way, WA starting March 27. McDowell scored a 12-dive total of 550.10 points to finish behind Princeton's Stuart Malcolm, who totaled 674.20 points. Navy's Jonathan Galinski (532.30), Army's Gregory Sievers (506.05) and George Mason's Ryan Metzker (409.90) rounded out the men's field. McDowell moved up from his fourth-place finish in the preliminaries after scoring 244.95 points in his opening six dives. McDowell scored 305.15 points for his final six dives to move into the second overall spot behind Malcolm. Malcolm was the highest scorer in both the preliminaries (341.35) and finals (332.85). On Friday, McDowell finished fifth on the three-meter board (630.05) and ninth on the one-meter board (547.40) on Saturday.

Final Qualifiers Announced

Zone A qualified five men's and five women's divers from the weekend competition. Pittsburgh divers Alex Volovetski and Jeremy Stultz along with Yale's Jeff Lichtenstein qualfied from the springboard competitions as they finished in the top three spots in both events. They will be joined by McDowell and Malcolm. From the women's competitions, Carpenter will be joined by Drexel's Kate Hynes, Rider's Amanda Burke, Harvard's Samantha Papadakis and Boston Unviersity's Tess Waresmith. Zone A includes NCAA Division I programs from New England south to Virginia. Five zone meets were held this weekend with Buffalo, Auburn, AL, Columbus, Houston and Oklahoma City serving as host sites.