Four members of the Iowa swimming and diving team qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Houston, Texas, on March 11-13.

Sarah Ballard, Simone Beinlich, Makayla Hughbanks, and Geneva Pauly will represent the Hawkeyes in Zone D and compete at the University of Houston Campus Recreation & Wellness Center.

All four Hawkeyes will compete in the one-meter dive. Ballard, Beinlich, and Hughbanks will also participate in the three-meter dive. Pauly, the Hawkeyes’ platform specialist, will compete in the tower dive.

To qualify for the Zone Diving Championships, competitors must hit the required diving score in any bona fide collegiate competition or the United States National Diving Championships. The number of spots allocated to each zone is dependent on how the teams from those zones performed at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, according to SwimSwam. Zone D includes other states like Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.

Divers will qualify for the NCAA Championships based on performances at their respective zone meet. The top 18 divers will move on from the preliminaries to the finals. In the one-meter dive, the top 11 qualify for the NCAA meet. The top nine divers in the three-meter and platform dives will advance out of Zone D to the NCAA Championships.

“I am excited for our group to compete at the Championships,” diving coach Todd Waikel told Hawkeye Sports. “This is a great opportunity for our divers to earn a spot at NCAA’s. I am confident in their abilities and am looking forward to a great meet.”

Season bests, per Hawkeye Sports

One-meter dive

Hughbanks – 312.60
Ballard – 303.38
Pauly – 286.35
Beinlich – 276.30

Three-meter dive

Hughbanks – 356.93
Ballard – 319.55
Beinlich – 291.80

Platform dive 

Pauly – 232.10