ASU Swim/Dive: Diving Zone E Recap

Three Sun Devil divers qualified for NCAAs in Austin at the Zone E Championships at Northern Arizona University on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s qualifiers.

Junior Youssef Selim, graduate student David Hoffer and sophomore Ashley McCool all punched tickets for the NCAA Championships over the course of this week’s three-day meet.

Selim and Hoffer went 3-for-3, qualifying in the 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform dive, while McCool punched her tickets in the 1-meter and the 3-meter.

Selim, a diver for the Egyptian Olympic team, also competed at the NCAAs in all three events last year and competed in the 3-meter and platform as a freshman. Hoffer, in his final year of eligibility, is no stranger to the NCAA championships; and this will be McCool’s second straight year qualifying in both the 1-meter and 3-meter.

Sophomore Frida Kaellgren, a 2018 NCAA qualifier in the 1-meter and 3-meter dive and 1-meter All-American, did not qualify for this year’s trip.

In a larger sense, diving offers valuable points for ASU in an otherwise clouded field of competitors. Where the ASU men placed 20th and the women 23rd at the 2018 NCAAs, divers qualifying offer an opportunity to put points on the board.

For instance: at NCAAs last year, the men of Texas took the crown over Cal by a mere 12 points. Cal qualified one diver per event, none of whom finished above 30th place, or scored points.

The Longhorns had five top-8 finishers, making their national championship unachievable without diving.

Though ASU may not be the first team to come to mind in a team national championship trophy, the extra points Selim, Hoffer and McCool could provide at the NCAAs will serve the Sun Devils greatly in their quests for improvements from last year.