VERMILLION – Four South Dakota divers will compete this week in the NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying meet being held at the Jamail Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus.
Competition in Zone D has the men's one-meter (11 a.m.) and women's three-meter (5 p.m.) event on Monday while Tuesday's schedule calls for the men's three-meter (11 a.m.) and women's one-meter (5 p.m.)
Sarah Schank and
Hudson Wilkerson will compete in both events while
Isaac Morris qualified in the one-meter and
Haley Pederson in the three-meter.
Schank, a senior, earned Summit League Championship Female Diving MVP after sweeping both events at the league championships. She is a two-time Zone Diving Qualifier who ranks second in school history in the three-meter event and third in the one-meter event.
Wilkerson, a freshman, earned All-Summit League honors with a second-place finish in the three-meter event while he also finished fourth in the one-meter. His strong first collegiate season has seen Wilkerson move into second on the school's all-time charts in both events, trailing only Morris.
Pederson, a sophomore, earned All-Summit League honors in both events following a runner-up finish in the three-meter and a third in the one-meter. The 2018 Summit League champion in the three-meter, will be making her second appearance at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Haley is currently third on the school's all-time list in the three-meter event.
Morris, a junior, has returned to the diving board for the final month of the season after he suffered a torn ACL during the summer. The Summit League Championship Male Diving MVP for the second straight season, competed in only three meets, but captured the Summit League title in the one-meter and qualify for the Zone Championships.
Returning from injury and not even knowing officially he would be diving this season until late January, Morris found great satisfaction in knowing he qualified for the Zones and would be going to Texas.
"I have always wanted to go to that pool and I'm excited that I get to go to Austin and be in that pool," said Morris. "There is a lot of satisfaction in making it, that's true."
South Dakota diving coach
Kris Jorgensen was honored as the Summit League women's diving coach of the year. The Coyotes posted runner-up finishes in both men and women divisions at the Summit League Championships.
Four of the five Zone Qualifying Meets take place Monday through Wednesday while the fifth, Zone C in West Lafayette, Indiana, is Thursday to Saturday. The other zone sites include Anapolis, Maryland (Zone A), Auburn, Alabama (Zone B) and Flagstaff, Arizona (Zone E).
