Tulane University
Zone Diving Championship
Lauren Arnold Opens NCAA Zone D Championship On Monday
Mar 9, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Tulane University diving standout Lauren Arnold opened the 2015 NCAA Zone D Championship in fine fashion as the junior from Victoria, Australia, posted a 254.10 in the three-meter springboard on Monday at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
Arnold's score was the ninth-best in Tulane history and good enough to finish 34th among the participating divers. Her 254.10 was also a Green Wave postseason record, surpassing her own mark of 246.20 at last year's Zone
"Today was a really good day for Lauren," Tulane diving coach Chris Devine said. "Given the competition that surrounded her today, I was really impressed with her performance. She was really good at responding, staying aggressive and diving with the attitude that `I'm going to do my best to put the best list out there and see where it falls against national-level competition.'
"Lauren was just shy of her personal best since she's been at Tulane, and given the fact that it's Zone scoring, it's probably the best overall list that she's ever performed. She stayed positive through the whole thing and beat some pretty high-caliber competition from some pretty big schools. This is the best list she's put together since I've been her coach and it's good to see her bring it all together at the right time."
In her second-consecutive year at the Zone Meet, Arnold earned the 2015 invitation after posting a school record in both the one-meter springboard with a 293.02 at TCU back on Sept. 27 to go with a season-best 278.10 on the three-meter elevation against Vanderbilt on Nov. 2. At the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship, Arnold earned third-team all-conference honors in the platform with a 192.05 while coming in 11th in the one meter (234.40) and 12th in the three-meter (254.50).
The NCAA Zone D Championship continues on Tuesday, March 10, with the one-meter springboard and conclude on Wednesday with the platform. The preliminary for those two events are slated to begin at 5:45 p.m. and 11 a.m., respectively, and finals on both days will start approximately 15 minutes after the prelims are completed.
The top five divers from each event will be eligible to compete at the NCAA Championship. Additional place finishes in each event will be eligible based on the number of student-athletes from that zone who finished in the Top 16 in an event at the previous year's NCAA Championship.
"Tomorrow is her stronger event and I'm expecting her to respond," Devine added. "If she keeps the same attitude, the same perspective and the same approach to what she did today, I expect to see an even better list than I saw today."
Arnold is one of two members of the Tulane swimming and diving team to participate in the NCAA postseason as junior Mia Schachter was invited to the NCAA Championship from March 19-21 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Schachter earned the invite with a provisional-cut time of 1:00.24 in the 100 breaststroke, and will compete in that event as well as the 50 and 100 freestyles.
Players Mentioned
