The Iowa diving team concluded its first day of qualifying for the upcoming NCAA Championships at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Austin, Texas.

The men dove first on Day 1, and only two of the three Hawkeye divers dove off the 1-meter. Senior Will Brenner and sophomore Anton Hoherz competed for Iowa, and it was an event both divers had some confidence in.

Both Brenner and Hoherz finished in the top-15 in the quarterfinals. Brenner finished prelims in eighth place with a score of 338.15, averaging a total round score of 56.36 after each dive. Hoherz ended the prelims with a score of 290.60 in 14th place. Both divers ended up in the finals as the top 18 finishers qualified for finals.

In the finals, Brenner slowed down while Hoherz only increased his position and score. Brenner finished the 1-meter in ninth place overall with a total score of 670.95. This score was good enough to qualify Brenner to the NCAA Championships for the 1-meter which will be his first NCAA appearance. Hoherz finished the finals going up one spot to 13th place overall with a total score of 595.40.

The women dove off the 3-meter springboard on Day 1, and all six Hawkeye divers –  freshman Jolynn Harris, sophomore Jayah Mathews, sophomore Claire Park, junior Thelma Strandberg, freshman Sam Tamborski, and senior Jacintha Thomas – all qualified.

Only three out of the six Iowa women’s divers would finish in the top 20 of the quarterfinals. Strandberg finished prelims with a score of 291.70 which was good enough to finish 20th place. The junior was just shy of the top-18 and qualifying for the finals, only missing the mark by 14 points. Mathews was not as impressive as usual in prelims, but still finished with a fantastic score of 319.85 which earned her an 11th-place finish. She was outdone in the prelims by her teammate Tamborski, though. The freshman dove to a score of 332.95 and earned seventh place in the preliminaries.

Both Tamborski and Mathews stayed consistent most of the way through finals. The two Hawkeye women maintained their average scores most of the way through the finals floating around the seven and 11 spot the whole round. By the end of the finals, though, Mathews would step up and Tamborski would slip up.

Tamborski was in the seventh and eighth spots all round until the sixth and final dive. The freshman was looking to beat her preliminary score and finish among the top time with one more decent finish. On her last dive, she fell short, only scoring a total of 40.5 points for her final dive, which was two points shy of her prelim score and knocked her down to finish 11th overall with a total of 663.45 points.

Mathews just edged Tamborski out finishing in 10th place. The sophomore had an average round score of 57.43 during the finals, which helped boost her overall points and helped her finish with a total of 664.45 points.

Both Mathews and Tamborski scored well enough to qualify for the NCAA Championship off the 3-meter. This will be Mathews second trip to the NCAA Championships and Tamborski’s first.

Action will return on Day 2  as the men will compete off the 3-meter springboard and the women will be on the 1-meter.