Thursday, March 9
Bloomington, Ind.
1:00 PM
Ball State University
at
NCAA Zone Diving Championships
Bertram and Smallwood Head to NCAA Zone C Diving Championships
March 08, 2017 | Women's Swimming and Diving
MUNCIE, Ind. – Ball State freshmen divers Rachel Bertram (Buffalo, MN/Buffalo) and Rachel Smallwood (Indianapolis, IN/Center Grove) will compete in the NCAA Zone C Diving Championship at Indiana University on March 9 and 10th.
Bertram, who ranks 5th in BSU annals in the 3m springboard, is coming off a third place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship where she posted a career-high 294.4. That performance marked the first top three finish by a Ball State woman diver since 2001. Bertram first earned her NCAA Zone qualifying score with a second place finish in the 1m event (266.33) versus Notre Dame on February 4. Bertram tallied 13 top 3 finishes during the regular season including three victories.
Smallwood, who ranks 5th in program history in the 1m event (275.03), tallied a 15th place finish on 1m at the MAC Championship. She posted her first NCAA Zone qualifying score with a second place finish in the 1m versus Bowling Green on November 4. Smallwood also earned 13 top 3 finishes this season including five first place honors.
"I'm very excited for the Rachels to get to experience their first Zone meet. It's a big meet and a very different environment from most meets, so to have the opportunity to qualify and compete as freshmen is great," Diving Coach Nick Gayes said. "I want them to have a positive experience this week and to be able to use it as fuel for the coming years as we attack bigger career goals."
The duo is the third consecutive pair of Ball State divers to qualify for the Zone meet joining Madie Zirzow and Brittany Penn in 2015, and Zirzow and Quinn Bixler in 2016.
Betram and Smallwood will compete in a deep field of more than 50 divers that includes teams from the BigTen, SEC, ACC, and MAC, among others.
The 2017 NCAA Zone C Championship will take place at Indiana University's Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center with the women's 3m event on Thursday, March 9, and the 1m on Friday, March 10. The platform event will be held on March 11, however the Ball State divers will not be competing in that event. Live results can be found at www.divemeets.com.
There are eight 1m and nine 3m NCAA automatic berths up for grabs in Zone C for the women. A diver who earns an automatic berth and finishes in the top 12 in another event (and holds qualifying scores in the events qualified in) will be able to compete in those events at the NCAA Championships which will be held March 16-18 at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.
*Women's NCAA Zone qualifying standard is 265 on 1m and 280 on 3m
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State women's swimming and diving team, please follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateWSwim.
Bertram, who ranks 5th in BSU annals in the 3m springboard, is coming off a third place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship where she posted a career-high 294.4. That performance marked the first top three finish by a Ball State woman diver since 2001. Bertram first earned her NCAA Zone qualifying score with a second place finish in the 1m event (266.33) versus Notre Dame on February 4. Bertram tallied 13 top 3 finishes during the regular season including three victories.
Smallwood, who ranks 5th in program history in the 1m event (275.03), tallied a 15th place finish on 1m at the MAC Championship. She posted her first NCAA Zone qualifying score with a second place finish in the 1m versus Bowling Green on November 4. Smallwood also earned 13 top 3 finishes this season including five first place honors.
"I'm very excited for the Rachels to get to experience their first Zone meet. It's a big meet and a very different environment from most meets, so to have the opportunity to qualify and compete as freshmen is great," Diving Coach Nick Gayes said. "I want them to have a positive experience this week and to be able to use it as fuel for the coming years as we attack bigger career goals."
The duo is the third consecutive pair of Ball State divers to qualify for the Zone meet joining Madie Zirzow and Brittany Penn in 2015, and Zirzow and Quinn Bixler in 2016.
Betram and Smallwood will compete in a deep field of more than 50 divers that includes teams from the BigTen, SEC, ACC, and MAC, among others.
The 2017 NCAA Zone C Championship will take place at Indiana University's Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center with the women's 3m event on Thursday, March 9, and the 1m on Friday, March 10. The platform event will be held on March 11, however the Ball State divers will not be competing in that event. Live results can be found at www.divemeets.com.
There are eight 1m and nine 3m NCAA automatic berths up for grabs in Zone C for the women. A diver who earns an automatic berth and finishes in the top 12 in another event (and holds qualifying scores in the events qualified in) will be able to compete in those events at the NCAA Championships which will be held March 16-18 at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.
*Women's NCAA Zone qualifying standard is 265 on 1m and 280 on 3m
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State women's swimming and diving team, please follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateWSwim.
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