KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Georgia diving teams enjoyed a successful first day of the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships Friday afternoon at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center, advancing two divers to the finals and nearly qualifying one for the national meet.

Hannah Moore finished fifth in the women1s 3-meter springboard, one spot shy of clinching a spot at the NCAA Championships, with a combined prelim and finals score of 621.30. Lexie Bryant also took part in the 3-meter competition Friday, recording a five-dive preliminary score of 241.95, a 28th-place finish.

Diving coach Dan Laak believes Moore1s effort will be enough to get her into the national meet.

One of two scenarios must occur for that to happen. The first requires that Moore finish in the top four in the women’s 1-meter springboard Saturday, or finish in the top two in the platform event Sunday. The second scenario is that if any of the four divers who finished ahead of Moore on Friday place
in the top four in Saturday’s 1-meter, or in the top two in Sunday’s platform competition, she will advance to NCAAs.

“I feel confident about Hannah’s chances of making it to NCAAs,” Laak said. “She was solid today and there are a few things she still needs to correct, but I feel confident about her efforts. Lexie did a very nice job today; she missed one dive and might have been able to make the final, but I was happy with her. She did very well today.”

For the men, senior Webb Worthington grabbed the 18th and final spot in the prelims that advanced to the final round of the 1-meter springboard. Worthington then moved up to 13th in the finals with a combined prelim and finals score of 588.30.

Two other Georgia men recorded scores during the five-dive preliminary rounds of the 1-meter springboard. Tim Barrett finished 28th in the preliminaries with a score of 267.25, while Owen Blank finished 31st for the men with a score of 256.85.

On the men’s side, four automatically qualified during Friday’s 1-meter final, four more will automatically qualify in Saturday’s 3-meter final and two will qualify during Sunday1s platform competition.

- Georgia Sports Communications