Three Mustang Divers to Compete at Zone Championships

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Three Mustang Divers to Compete at Zone Championships
Egenolf, Yancey and Culbertson Represent SMU

March 12, 2008

HOUSTON (SMU)--Three members of the SMU men's and women's diving teams are competing this weekend, March 14-16, at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Houston. On the women's side, Audra Egenolf and Britney Yancey will both dive. The Mustang men will be represented by freshman Matthew Culbertson.

Twelve schools from six states, including SMU, are competing at the Zone D meet, which includes one C-USA opponent and several schools from the Big Ten. The Zone D meet is one of five occurring concurrently across the country, with the goal of qualifying divers for the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships to be held March 20-22 for the women and March 27-29 for the men.

The three-day meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Friday with the men's 3-meter springboard, then continues at 10 a.m., Saturday, with the women's 3-meter and concludes at 12:30 p.m., Sunday, with the women's platform.

Yancey enters the meet having knocked off Houston for the three-meter diving title at the Conference USA Championship on Feb. 28. Her score in that event was a career-high 329.50 and was over 15 points higher than her nearest competitor's.

Egenolf took home two bronze medals from the C-USA Championships, earning third place finishes in the three-meter board and platform finals. Earlier in the season, Egenolf took home silver on the platform and bronze on the one-meter board at the Georgia Diving Invitational in January, establishing her as a force to be reckoned with.

"I think we have an excellent chance of qualifying one of the women," said diving coach Jim Stillson. "I honestly can't say which, but if they dive like they're capable of diving, either one of them could qualify. I think we have a reasonable chance of having both make it."

On the men's side, Culbertson earned silver in the one- and three-meter boards and bronze on the platform at the C-USA Invitational, capping off a remarkable freshman season.

"Matt has a fairly good chance of qualifying," said Stillson. "But the bottom line, for the men and women is that a good day is just not going to be good enough. A diver is going to have to have a great day in order to qualify."

Eight women and five men will be selected to move on to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Complete meet recaps and results will be posted on SMUMustangs.com following each day's finals.