Mountaineer Divers Conclude Zones, Send Four to NCAAs

Saturday, March 13

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

West Virginia University

NCAA Zone A Diving Championships

Photo by: Liz Parke

March 13, 2021 09:03 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Results

By: Olivia Sneed

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Sophomore Owen Johns earned a spot at the NCAA Championships to lead the way for the West Virginia University men's and women's diving team on the final day at the 2021 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships on Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Johns secured a spot at the 2021 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships with a fifth-place finish on 1-meter, tallying a final score of 523.35. With Johns' qualification on Saturday, all four Mountaineers competing for the men's team this weekend at Zones have earned bids to the national championships. Redshirt juniors Jacob Cardinal Tremblay and Jake Lowe and junior PJ Lenz also will join Johns at NCAAs. Tremblay will compete on all three events, Lenz will compete on 1-meter and platform, while Lowe and Johns will appear in the 1- and 3-meter springboard events.

With four divers set to compete at the NCAA Championships, this marks the first time in program history that multiple men's divers have competed at a single championship. Additionally, senior swimmer David Dixon also earned a bid to the meet, moving the men's team's total number of competitors to five, the most men's competitors at a single championship since 2007 when eight Mountaineers represented WVU at the NCAA Championships.

"Honestly, it's hard to put this week into words," diving coach Karla Helder said. "What a testament to our athletes this was. Not only did they compete to the best of their abilities on the boards, but leading up to that, they did everything they could to stay healthy and stay within the COVID protocols set for them. This was a very true testament to their spirit as athletes."

In the men's 1-meter finals, Lenz led the way for WVU in second place with a 299.70 total, before adding 293.75 in finals to hold on to second place with a total score of 593.45. Johns entered finals in sixth place with a score of 271.45, then improved his standing by one spot in finals with a 251.90 score. Tremblay finished in 10th place with a total score of 494.50, while Lowe notched a 499.75 total in finals to finish in 11th place.

Sophomore Holly Darling was the lone competitor for the Mountaineers in the women's platform competition. She completed prelims with a score of 195.75, before adding 205.95 in the finals to finish in 10th place.

"Truthfully, I am almost at a loss for words, especially as a first-year coach here at WVU," Helder continued. "These athletes have created an avenue for themselves to be successful this year, and they are great representatives of everything this university is about. I am so proud of them for adhering to the standards this year, both on the athletic side and on the pandemic-related side of things."

A total of 11 men and 14 women competed on the final day of competition, with all competitors from the men's and women's preliminary rounds reaching finals in each event.

West Virginia now looks ahead to the 2021 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on March 24-27. Tremblay, Lowe, Lenz, Johns and Dixon will represent the Mountaineers at the championships, also hosted at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUSwimDive on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.