First Day of Zone Diving Championships Complete

BUFFALO, NY– Competition was held in the men's three-meter and women's one-meter springboard events as the first day of the NCAA Zone Diving Championships at the University at Buffalo's Alumni Arena Natatorium came to a conclusion on Friday afternoon.

Divers from Virginia Tech swept the competitions. In the men's three-meter event, junior Logan Shinholser scored a commanding victory over teammate Ryan Hawkins. Shinholser, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion in the men's three-meter event earlier this season, scored a total of 852.70 points for his 12 total dives, scoring highest in both the preliminary round (425.75) and the championship round (426.95). Hawkins finished second with 773.05 total points.

Freshman Kaylea Arnett took the women's one-meter event with a 12-dive total of 585.00 points to hold off Maryland's Alisa Kurbatova by just over 13 points. Kurbatova turned in a second-place showing of 571.90 points for her combined preliminary and championship rounds. Arnett also won the one-meter diving event at the ACC Championships in February.

Buffalo had three of its four divers reach the championship round. On the one-meter board, women's sophomore Ava Giachino placed eighth overall with a 12-dive total of 492.85 after she moved up from 10th in the preliminary round. In the three-meter event, men's sophomore Chris Iafrati finished 14th with 567.95 points for his 12-dive routine. Senior Colin Patrican finished 15th at 566.20. The lone Bull not to reach the finals was freshman Rachel Eckert as she completed her six-dive preliminary round with 198.90 to finish 36th of 44 women's entrants.

Competition continues on Saturday with the men's one-meter and women's three-meter events. Platform diving is slated for Sunday. Both day's competitions begin at noon.