University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
NCAA Zone Diving Meet
Giordano & Galante Qualify For NCAA Diving Championships
3/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Results
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Competing on the opening day of the NCAA Zone A Championships, sophomores Dominic Giordano and Tony Galante both qualified for their first career NCAA Championships with top five finishes on 1-meter on Monday, March 9.
To secure a spot in the men's NCAA Championships, a Zone A diver must have finished in the top five of men's 1-meter springboard. As long as Giordano or Galante finish inside the top-12 of 3-meter or in platform diving during each of the next two days, they will be able to compete at those heights at the National Championships as well.
This marks the first time a Pitt men's diver has qualified for Nationals since Alex Volovetski was an All-American in 2008.
Giordano won Monday's event over a field of 49 divers. He sat in first after the prelims with 336.00 points and added to his total in the championship round for a 12-dive score of 667.10.
"Dom dove, of course, very well," said head diving coach Julian Krug. "One meter is his least favorite event. He did an excellent job, and really had to, to pull out a win. There were probably some better divers there, but they didn't perform that well. And Dom didn't back off, he did a nice job."
Galante was in fifth following the prelims with 307.10 points and remained in that spot through the finals with an end score of 619.35.
"The surprise was Tony," said Krug. "Tony did just an outstanding job. It's really a tough contest and for him to take fifth and be in the last qualifying spot for NCAA was just an outstanding job."
Freshman Meme Sharp just missed out on qualifying for her first NCAA Championships as well. Sharp, who was in sixth with 297.10 points entering the 3-meter finals, slipped to 10th with 576.70 points at the conclusion of the final round. She was the top freshman finisher and the only one to place higher than 15th.
"Meme as a freshman is doing a big list," said Krug. "She had the most difficult degree of difficulty list in the entire women's contest today. Five of her six dives were dives that she learned this year, so she's doing an entirely new list. And to do it as well as she did it was pretty outstanding."
For women, the top seven finishers from the 3-meter height received automatic bids. Since Sharp finished in the top-12 of the event, as long as she places seventh or better on 1-meter or platform diving she will be eligible to compete on 3-meter at Nationals.
The Zone A Diving Championships continues Tuesday with men's 3-meter springboard and women's 1-meter springboard beginning at 11 a.m.
