University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
NCAA Zone Diving Meet
Diving Concludes Zone Meets With Six Finalists
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Results
BUFFALO - All six Pitt divers qualified for the platform finals and placed within the top 13 on Wednesday, March 11 at the final day of NCAA Zone A Diving held at Buffalo's Alumni Arena Natatorium.
Sophomores Dominic Giordano and Tony Galante took first and sixth, respectively and are eligible to compete in multiple events at the NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships in Iowa City, Iowa, from March 26-28.
Giordano dominated the contest and finished with 814.50 points, winning by nearly 100 over second-place finisher Logan Stevens of Virginia Tech. Since he placed in the top seven of all three events, Giordano will compete at 1-meter, 3-meter and platform at nationals.
Galante, who was ninth following the prelims, had a strong finals showing and moved up to sixth with an end score of 660.65. The Cary, N.C. native will compete on both 1-meter and platform at NCAA's.
Participating in what was likely his final diving competition, senior Harris Bergman, the lone senior diver for Pitt at Zone A, finished on a strong note. After making the finals on 3-meter yesterday despite battling back issues, Bergman continued his success on Wednesday and earned himself a 10th-place finish with 612.65 points.
"Harry did an absolutely great job," said head diving coach Julian Krug. "He did a heck of a job on 3-meter yesterday and did a great job on platform (today), ending up 10th out of 23 entrants. So he finished his diving career on a very good note although he did not make the NCAA's."
It was a bittersweet day for freshman Meme Sharp, who finished one spot and about 13 points shy of earning a bid to dive at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro, N.C. next week.
Sharp, who previously placed 10th on both 1-meter and 3-meter, needed to secure a top-seven finish on platform, which not only would have allowed her to compete in that event, but the two others as well, based on her top-12 finishes earlier in the week. Following the prelims, Sharp was in eighth and behind seventh by 13.10 points. Unfortunately, Sharp couldn't make up any ground during her five dives in the finals and wound up with 462.00 points and missed the cut by 13.25.
Said Krug following Sharp's platform performance: "she still did an excellent job, an excellent list and I'm very pleased with it."
Sophomore Rachel Saunders and junior Samantha Winkelmann also made their way to the platform finals and placed 12th and 13th, respectively. For Saunders, who scored 399.45 points, it was her second top-13 finish of the week while it was the best placing at the event for Winkelmann, who made her only finals on Wednesday.
