Garcia Varela Punches NCAA Championships Ticket During Day One at Zones

Monday, March 9

Dallas, Texas

All Day

University of Missouri

NCAA Zone D Diving Championships

Garcia Varela Punches NCAA Championships Ticket During Day One at Zones

3/9/2020 3:07:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

DALLAS - Mizzou freshman Leonardo Garcia Varela (Cali, Colombia) punched his ticket to the 2020 NCAA Championships on Monday during day one action at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships at the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium in Dallas, Texas. Garcia Varela earned his NCAA bid with a sixth-place finish on 3-meter.

KEY PERFORMANCES

In his first NCAA Zone Championships, Garcia Varela notched a two-round tally of 705.75 points on 3-meter to earn his NCAA Championships berth. A prelims score of 385.65 put him in good position entering finals. He added 320.1 points in the final to place sixth overall, comfortably in the NCAA field as the top nine men's 3-meter finishers earned bids.

Another freshman, Carlo Lopez (Edmonton, Alberta) narrowly missed an invite with a 12th-place finish. He recorded a total score of 681.15 points, with scores of 344.2 in finals and 336.95 in prelims. If Lopez qualifies on 1-meter or platform in the next two days, his 3-meter placement of 12th will allow the freshman to also compete the board at NCAAs.

In the women's 1-meter competition, freshman Savana Trueb (Colorado Springs, Colo.) placed 20th overall with a prelims score of 248.1, as she missed a spot in the 18-diver final by less than five points. Sophomore Sarah Rousseau (Melbourne, Fla.) took 27th with 238.85 points.

QUOTABLES

Mizzou Diving Coach Kyle Bogner
"The athletes did great today. Everyone was able to shake off the nerves a bit and really ended up hitting a rhythm. Leo did 10 fantastic dives and was consistent enough to hang on to an NCAA qualifying spot. Carlo was right there in it as well with two of his best 3-meter lists in a row this season."