March 16, 2008

HOUSTON - Mizzou freshman Dante Jones earned the Zone D Championship's final bid to this month's NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships with his second-place finish in Sunday's platform diving competition. Jones will join sophomore Greg DeStephen, who qualified on Friday with his win on the 3-meter board, at the championships.

"Dante did what he needed to do to qualify today," Mizzou Diving Coach Jamie Sweeney said. "He hit some big dives down the stretch to take second and that last spot. I'm excited to have a pair of guys going to Nationals again for the second year in a row."

Jones posted 297.95 points in prelims and returned to the well in the final round to tally a score of 313.90 for a 12-dive total of 611.85, fewer than 10 points behind overall winner Mike Wong of Texas. Because Wong had already qualified for NCAAs earlier in the weekend, Jones was able to nab the final qualifying spot. This is the Columbia native's first bid to Nationals, where he and teammate DeStephen will compete in all three diving events.

DeStephen took fourth in Sunday's competition on the tower with a score of 574.75. Classmate Ryan Meeker and senior David Boyko were right behind with scores of 553.50 and 536.80, respectively.

The Tiger tandem of DeStephen and Jones will take the next two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 27-29 in Federal Way, Wash. Stay tuned to mutigers.com for all the latest updates and results.

PLATFORM DIVING FINAL STANDINGS (POINTS)

1. Mike Wong, Texas (621.15)

2. Dante Jones, Missouri (611.85)

3. Matt Culbertson, Southern Methodist (600.60)

4. Greg DeStephen, Missouri (574.75)

5. Ryan Meeker, Missouri (553.50)

6. David Boyko, Missouri (536.80)

7. Jonathan Wilcox, Texas (483.55)

8. Matthew Cardell, Texas (477.15)

9. Matthew Cooper, Texas (407.60)