Spring Break
Diving teams prepare for postseason
By: T.D. Durham
Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: Sports
The Texas A&M men's and women's diving teams will compete in the 2009 Zone D Diving Championships Friday in Columbia, Mo.
The meet is an NCAA competition organized in order to choose the top divers of the Midwest Zone to compete in the NCAA championship meet later this month.
The number of spots open for the NCAAs varies with each season, this year, Zone D in which A&M competes in has five available men's spots and 10 women's. The spots will be divided amongst 19 schools, including rivals University of Texas.
The Aggie women's team, comprised of four students, will send each and every one of its divers to the meet, including sophomores Jaele Patrick and Emily Watson, freshman Lorena Lujan, and junior Haley Haynes.
Patrick, who was awarded Big 12 Conference Diver of the Week twice in 2009, said that the team is excited about bringing all four divers to the meet.
"It's some tight competition next week in Missouri," Patrick said. "But we're bringing our best divers along, and we've all got a good chance to make the NCAAs."
Patrick, who moved to A&M from Australia over the winter break, will be competing alongside teammate Haynes, who has had a recent improvement in her diving repertoire that will aid her in her efforts at the Zone meet.
"At the Big 12 meet, she learned one of the most difficult dives you can perform on the platform event," Head Diving Coach Kevin Wright said. "She learned the reverse 2 and a half pike off of the ten meter in warm ups before the finals, then performed it for 6.5s."
Wright said that Haynes is one of the only divers in the nation that can do the dive successfully, and men's senior diver Eric Sehn, four-time Big 12 champion, said he would never try the dive.
Sehn will, however, be competing with his personal diving set at the meet alongside teammates Grant Nel, a freshman from Australia, Cam McLean, a freshman from Canada, and Henry Stevens, a junior from Midland, TX.
The A&M men's team will compete against many experienced divers from Texas and Missouri, including three Longhorns and two Missouri athletes who have competed in the National Championships.
The meet is an NCAA competition organized in order to choose the top divers of the Midwest Zone to compete in the NCAA championship meet later this month.
The number of spots open for the NCAAs varies with each season, this year, Zone D in which A&M competes in has five available men's spots and 10 women's. The spots will be divided amongst 19 schools, including rivals University of Texas.
The Aggie women's team, comprised of four students, will send each and every one of its divers to the meet, including sophomores Jaele Patrick and Emily Watson, freshman Lorena Lujan, and junior Haley Haynes.
Patrick, who was awarded Big 12 Conference Diver of the Week twice in 2009, said that the team is excited about bringing all four divers to the meet.
"It's some tight competition next week in Missouri," Patrick said. "But we're bringing our best divers along, and we've all got a good chance to make the NCAAs."
Patrick, who moved to A&M from Australia over the winter break, will be competing alongside teammate Haynes, who has had a recent improvement in her diving repertoire that will aid her in her efforts at the Zone meet.
"At the Big 12 meet, she learned one of the most difficult dives you can perform on the platform event," Head Diving Coach Kevin Wright said. "She learned the reverse 2 and a half pike off of the ten meter in warm ups before the finals, then performed it for 6.5s."
Wright said that Haynes is one of the only divers in the nation that can do the dive successfully, and men's senior diver Eric Sehn, four-time Big 12 champion, said he would never try the dive.
Sehn will, however, be competing with his personal diving set at the meet alongside teammates Grant Nel, a freshman from Australia, Cam McLean, a freshman from Canada, and Henry Stevens, a junior from Midland, TX.
The A&M men's team will compete against many experienced divers from Texas and Missouri, including three Longhorns and two Missouri athletes who have competed in the National Championships.
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