March 19, 2008
COLUMBIA, Mo. - After qualifying at last week's Zone D Diving Championships, Mizzou junior Kendra Melnychuk is set to participate in the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, Thursday through Saturday, in Columbus, Ohio. Diving action in Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion gets underway Thursday with the 1-meter diving competition. A complete schedule is listed below and live results will be available each day right here on mutigers.com.
Last Time Around
This will be Melnychuk's second straight appearance at the NCAA Championships. At last year's meet, the Canadian's highest finish came on the tower. Melnychuk posted a score of 235.55 to finish 18th overall. In 3-meter diving, she narrowly missed nabbing All-America honors, as her score of 300.20 put her fewer than 10 points out of the 16th and final All-America spot. Melnychuk also competed on the 1-meter board, on which she tallied 278.00 points for a 31st-place finish.
The All-America Dream
The last Tiger diver to earn All-America honors was Evan Watters in 2006, when he finished 12th on 1-meter and 13th on tower. Only one female diver in program history has solidified this status, dating back to 1982 when Denise Buchheister did so on the 1-meter board.
In the Zones
At this past week's Zone Diving Championships, Melnychuk was able to qualify for NCAAs a day earlier than during her sophomore campaign. Last year, Melnychuk needed to win the final day's platform diving competition in order to qualify for Nationals, which she did in clutch fashion. This year, however, she alleviated any such worries by taking fourth on 3-meter on the second day of competition in Houston. The Canadian was not done though, as she went on to close the weekend by capturing silver on the tower.
SaskatcheWON
Melnychuk, a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, became the first Tiger diver in school history to be crowned a conference champion when she won the platform diving competition at Big 12s earlier this month. Melnychuk posted a new school record 284.00 points in earning Mizzou's first ever conference diving title. She also brought home bronze and silver on the 1- and 3-meter boards, respectively. Her second-place showing in 3-meter diving was one place ahead of a 2007 NCAA finalist.
Well Done
Kendra Melnychuk has been nothing short of fantastic in the diving well this season. The three-time 2007-08 Big 12 Diver of the Week now holds all three school diving records and never finished lower than third in dual or invite action this year, tallying 26 wins, two runner-up showings and one third-place finish. Melnychuk, unbeaten in 2008 dual action, took a 12-event winning streak into the conference meet.
COMPLETE CHAMPIONSHIPS DIVING SCHEDULE
Thursday - 1-meter Diving
12:30 p.m. - Trials
2:15 p.m. - Consolation Finals
6:00 p.m. - Finals
Friday - 3-meter Diving
12:30 p.m. - Trials
2:30 p.m. - Consolation Finals
6:00 p.m. - Finals
Saturday - Platform Diving
12:30 p.m. - Trials
2:15 p.m. - Consolation Finals
6:00 p.m. - Finals
* All times listed in CST