Towbin Wins 3m Board at NCAA Zone A Diving Championships
ANNAPOLIS, Md.- Virginia senior Kylie Towbin (New Canaan, Conn.) won the 3m board on Monday (March 11) at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships at Lejeune Hall, as she and junior Bryce Shelton (Vienna, Va.) qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships during the day’s competition.
Towbin led the women’s 3m board throughout the competition, concluding the day with a first-place finish and a score of 684.00. She recorded 326.70 points in the finals after capturing a score of 357.30 during the prelims. The finish marks the fourth consecutive year that the senior qualified for the national meet on the 3m board.
Shelton advanced on the 1m board, after finishing sixth in the finals. He dove 328.45 in the final six rounds of competition to top his preliminary dive score of 324.75. He finished with a combined score of 653.20. Shelton will compete for the third time in his career on the 1m board at the NCAA Championships.
“Today was as good of a first day as we could have expected coming into the zone meet,” head diving coach Drew Livingston said. “When your goal is to qualify for the NCAA Championships, it’s always better to get your spot early in the competition. The longer we go into the meet, the harder it is to make NCAAs. Kylie Towbin and Bryce Shelton did a tremendous job competing at a very high level to get their invite on the first day. Kylie came out on her front foot and never let up, winning by 50 points. Bryce came through in the clutch when it mattered the most to grab his spot.
“Now we reset and try to get more qualifiers in events tomorrow and Wednesday. The fact that we started so strong will give us momentum to achieve more at this meet. There is a lot more we can do, but I’m proud of our whole team for how they competed today.”
Sophomore Jocelyn Porter also competed in the finals of the women’s 3m dive. She recorded a combined score of 531.00 to finish 12th overall. Porter captured a score of 271.95 in the finals and 259.05 in the prelims.
Freshman Walker Creedon (Cary, N.C.) was one spot shy of making the finals, finishing 19th on the 1m board with a score of 265.00.
Senior Kirsten Parkinson (Stamford, Conn.) rounded out the day with a score of 247.80, placing 22nd on the 3m board.
The Cavaliers will return to action tomorrow as the men compete on the 3m board and the women dive on the 1m board. Events will begin at noon.