Iowa swim and dive sending five to NCAA Zones

The Hawkeyes will have their presence felt as they send three women and two men to this week’s NCAA Zone D Diving Championships.

Iowa%E2%80%99s+Sama+Tamborski+twists+in+the+air+as+she+dives+in+the+3+Meter+Diving+finals+during+the+fifth+session+of+the+2020+Women%E2%80%99s+Big+Ten+Swim+and+Dive+Championship+on+Friday%2C+Feb.+21%2C+2020%2C+at+the+Campus+Recreation+and+Wellness+Center.+

Emily Wangen

Iowa’s Sama Tamborski twists in the air as she dives in the 3 Meter Diving finals during the fifth session of the 2020 Women’s Big Ten Swim and Dive Championship on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Chris Werner, Sports Reporter


Five members of the Iowa swimming and diving program will represent the Hawkeyes this week at the NCAA Zone D Diving Championships in Dallas, Texas.

The men’s team will send junior Anton Hoherz and freshman Mohamed Neuman to the competition, while senior Thelma Strandberg, junior Claire Park, and sophomore Sam Tamborski will represent the women’s team. Junior Jayah Mathews also qualified for the Hawkeye women but will not travel with the team.

The championship will run through Wednesday at Southern Methodist University’s Robinson and Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium.

Today, the women will compete off of the 3-meter springboard while the men dive off the 1-meter. The men and women will swap events Tuesday. The championship will conclude on Wednesday with the Platform Diving section of the meet.

Both Iowa representatives for the men’s competition have qualified in all three events.

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For the women, Strandberg and Park qualified for the 1-meter event, while Tamborski and Mathews secured spots in both the 1 and 3-meter championship fields.

Neuman broke into the Iowa record books this season with the tenth-best 1-meter score in school history. He also holds the Hawkeyes’ third highest mark in platform diving.

The Cairo, Egypt, native scored a 355.15 off the platform at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships in Bloomington, Indiana. Neuman finished seventh in the event at the conference championships.

Hoherz holds the number one spot on Iowa’s all-time list for platform diving. He scored an impressive 415.65 during his freshman season at the 2017-18 Big Ten Championships.

On the women’s side, Mathews posted qualifying scores of 324.85 off of the 1-meter and 362.25 off the 3-meter. Tamborski scored 294.30 and 341.55 to secure spots in both events. Strandberg made it into the 1-meter championship with a qualifying score of 272.25. Park barely got into the field sneaking by the qualifying standard.