Iowa diving sends Hoherz to NCAA finals
The Hawkeyes conclude the NCAA Zone D Championship, sending off one more to the finals.
Iowa diver Anton Hoherz dives off the three-meter board in the preliminary diving rounds of the Hawkeye Invitational on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018. (David Harmantas/The Daily Iowan)
March 13, 2019
Day 3 was the final day of competition at the 2019 NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Austin, Texas, and Hawkeye diving continued to send people to the finals.
On the men’s side, only 17 divers competed on the platform. For Iowa, the sophomore duo of Anton Hoherz — his primary event — and Jonatan Posligua finished in the top 15 of the preliminaries. Posligua (264.95) took the No. 14 spot, and Hoherz (345) finished No. 7. Both divers went on to have better performances in the finals.
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In the men’s final, Posligua did not move up the rankings, staying at No. 14, but he did have a better score (265.25), helping him finish at 530.20 overall. Hoherz, on the other hand, climbed the rankings in the finals. Hoherz (342.15, overall 687.15) finished fourth. That was good enough to qualify him for the NCAA Championships, which he also qualified in last season.
The Iowa women had only two divers competing in the pack of 23 on the platform, freshman Jolynn Harris and junior Thelma Strandberg. Harris did not do so hot, finishing 22nd (184.15). She may not have had the most spectacular of finishes, but she is only a freshman who dove all three dives and has three more years to improve.
Strandberg also was not so hot in the preliminaries, finishing 17th (216.90), which barely squeaked her into the finals. In the finals, though, she finished 16th (443.65).
Although Hoherz was the only diver to qualify for finals on the platform on Day 3, he was not the only Hawkeye diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The Iowa women divers will send sophomore Jayah Mathews and freshman Sam Tamborski to compete in the NCAAs.
Tamborski earned her first appearance on the 3-meter springboard, where she finished 11th (663.45). Mathews will be in the championships for the 1-meter, eighth (577.75), and the 3-meter, 10th (664.45), her second-straight season qualifying for the NCAAs.
The women’s championships will be in Austin from March 20-23.
The men will only send one other diver besides Hoherz, senior Will Brenner. He finished ninth on the 1-meter springboard (670.95). This will be Brenner’s first-ever appearance at the NCAAs.
The men’s championships will also be in Austin, March 27-30.
