The NCAA Womenβs Swim and Dive National Championship meet begins Wednesday in Knoxville, Tennessee, with numerous UA athletes β led of course by Olympic silver medalist and multiple-time Pac-12 champion diver Delaney Schnell β slated to compete.
Schnell, from Tucson High School before becoming a Wildcat, earned berths in three diving events at the national championships via her performance at the NCAA Zone E meet last week outside Seattle.
While swimmers qualify for NCAA championship berths based on their results throughout the season, college divers must earn their spots via their performance at one of five βzoneβ meets that take place between the conference meets and NCAA championships.
Schnell, who won the 1-meter and 3-meter events at the Pac-12 Championships while finishing second in the platform dive, swept all three events at the zone meet.
Schnell enters nationals essentially ranked first (based on zone meet results) in the women’s 1-meter and platform events, according to SwimSwam.com’s calculations.
Arizonaβs Quinn Gariepy-Regan will also compete at Nationals thanks to her fourth-place finish in the 1 meter dive.
Swimmers Madeline Burr and Julia Heimstead will also represent the UA in Minneapolis. Heimstead will take part in the 200 free and 200 fly, with Burr in the 100 fly.
In 500 days on Tuesday, the 2024 Summer Olympics will burst into life in Paris as the teams float down the River Seine on barges in a unique opening ceremony. The Paris Olympics and Paralympics have a lot riding on them -- they involve the return of full crowds of spectators to the world's greatest sporting spectacle after the Covid-blighted Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021 and the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year.
