CHICAGO-- Denison University qualified three women's divers to the NCAA Division III Region 1 Diving Championship at the University of Chicago and through one of two boards, all three competitors posted top-10 finishes.
Friday's competition was the women's 3-meter and sophomore Allison Fitzgerald placed second out of 18 entries. Emma Weber finished in eighth place while Naomi Clayton took 10th.
Fitzgerald posted an 11-dive score of 451.30, marking a 21.30 improvement over her score at last year's NCAA Regional. Fitzgerald finished ninth at last year's NCAA Division III Championship on the 3-meter board. Today, Fitzgerald earned her top score on her most difficult dive, an inward 2 ½ somersault tuck (405C). Seven of her 11 dives earned at least 42.00 points and all but her first three dives had a degree of difficulty of 2.0 or higher. Only Calvin's Sarah Bradley who won the event with a score of 462.55 bested Fitzgerald.
Weber finished with an 11-dive score of 402.60 in her third career NCAA Regional appearance. Her highest scoring dive came on her sixth attempt, a reverse 2 ½ somersault tuck with a 2.8 degree of difficulty. She totaled a score of 43.40 on the dive.
For Clayton, this marked her first appearance in NCAA Regional competition. She was coming off a second-place on the 3-meter board at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. On Friday she turned in a 10th place finish after an 11-dive score of 390.45. Clayton closed strong with her final two dives earning scores of 44.00 and 42.00, respectively. Her top scoring dive was a 44.55 that came on her sixth attempt, an inward 2 ½ somersault tuck with a 2.7 degree of difficulty.
Fitzgerald, Weber and Clayton will return to the Myers-McLoraine Pool on the campus of the University of Chicago on Saturday, March 3 for the 1-meter dive.
