Cardinal Dive Towards Regional Zone Championships

Ipsen Has Top Scores in 1- and 3-Meter, Phipps is Returning All-American

	Stephanie Phipps is the lone NCAA returner for the Cardinal divers, earning All-America honors last year.

March 7, 2012

STANFORD, Calif.-- Dr. Rick Schavone will send eight of his divers to the regional Zone Championships in Colorado Springs in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Seven men and eight women from this regional will qualify for their respective NCAA Championship.

Featuring a very young squad, of seven underclassmen, sophomore Stephanie Phipps is the lone returning NCAA participant having earned All-America honors last year when she finished 16th in the 3-Meter. Junior captain Taylor Sishc is the most experienced, participating in his third Zone Championship.

Freshman Kristian Ipsen will return to collegiate competition after diving for Team USA in London two weeks ago. Ipsen has won all 12 of his collegiate 1- and 3-meter events this season. In London at the World Cup he was sixth with partner Troy Dumais in the 3-meter synchro and 24th in the 3-meter springboard. The international competition forced him to miss the Pac-12 Championships.

According to rankings off of divemeets.com, Ipsen (first), Sishc (fourth), Connor Kuremsky (sixth) and Dhruv Tyagi (ninth) are all ranked in the regional top-10 in the 1-meter and Ipsen (first), Kuremsky (sixth), Sishc (seventh), Noah Garcia (ninth) and Tyagi (tenth) are ranked in the top-10 in the 3-meter. On the women's side, Phipps ranks fourth in the region in both the 1- and 3-meter.

Eight Divers to Zones
WOMEN'S TEAM
Phipps
NCAAs: 2011 1-Meter (31st, 245.90-prelims), 2011 3-Meter (16th, 295.60/316.85-prelims)
Zones: 2011 3-Meter (3rd, 629.25), 2011 1-Meter (29th, 228.0 prelims)
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (5th, 296.25/272.65-prelims), 2012 3-Meter (5th, 302.05/310.05-prelims), 2012 Platform (14th, 180.20-prelims), 2011 1-Meter (15th, 248.35), 2011 3-Meter (4th, 321.20/335.45-prelims)

Brazina
NCAAs: never attended
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (12th, 244.00 prelims), 2012 3-Meter (13th, 248.40 prelims), 2012 Platform (20th, 127.30 prelims)

MEN'S TEAM
Ipsen
NCAAs: never attended
Pac-12s: did not compete in 2012 (London)

Kuremsky
NCAAs: never attended
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (4th, 313.40/305.30-prelims), 2012 3-Meter (4th, 352.90/352.45-prelims), 2012 Platform (10th, 241.25)

Sishc
NCAAs: never attended
Zones: 2011 1-Meter (8th, 622.05), 2011 3-Meter (13th, 639.10), 2011 Platform (5th, 652.95), did not compete in 2010, 2009 1-Meter (16th, 256.85), 2009 3-Meter (16th, 277.95), 2009 Platform (13th, 269.60)
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (3rd, 362.40/340.20-prelims), 2012 3-Meter (2nd, 371.95/352.15-prelims), 2012 Platform (6th, 291.00/316.90-prelims), 2011 1-Meter (11th, 272.85-prelims), 2011 3-Meter (7th, 375.50/364/15-prelims), 2011 Platform (5th, 343.70/277.05-prelims), did not attend in 2010;

Garcia
NCAAs: never attended
Zones: 2011 1-Meter (10th, 604.20), 2011 3-Meter (11th, 667.40), 2011 Platform (11th, 551.85)
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (9th, 275.25), 2012 3-Meter (6th, 334.80/330.10-prelims), 2012 Platform (5th, 297.55/279.60-prelims), 2011 1-Meter (10th, 275.30-prelims), 2011 3-Meter (9th, 311.65-prelims), 2011 Platform (7th, 283.20/260.80-prelims)

Tyagi
NCAAs: never attended
Zones: 2011 1-Meter (9th, 611.25), 2011 3-Meter (7th, 738.65), 2011 Platform (9th, 608.30)
Pac-12s: 2012 1-Meter (10th, 296.55-prelims), 2012 3-Meter (9th, 301.10-prelims), 2012 Platform (7th, 259.75/297.05-prelims), 2011 1-Meter (5th, 351.00/308.55-prelims), 3-Meter (8th, 322.95/343.10-prelims), 2011 Platform (6th, 294.00/284.25-prelims)

Reinhard
NCAAs: never attended
Zones: 2011 1-Meter (12th, 588.55), 2011 3-Meter (26th, 257.70-prelims)
Pac-12s: exhibition only in 2011, did not compete in 2012

At the conference championships, Sishc, sophomores Garcia and Tyagi and freshman Kuremsky all finished in the top-10 in all three events, helping the Cardinal secure its 31st-straight conference title. In the platform, Stanford had four top-10 finishers led by fifth place Garcia. In the 1-meter, Sishc (3rd) and Kuremsky (4th) were in the top-five. Sishc was a runner-up in the 3-meter on the first night with Kuremsky (4th) and Garcia (6th) finishing in the top-six. The quartet secured 147 points for the Cardinal men.

On the women's side, Phipps reached the finals of the 1- and 3-meter, finishing fifth in both events. Phipps had the scores from the judges in the platform, but her degree of difficulty was such that she did not make the top flight in that event. Phipps won a combined 13, 1 or 3-meter competitions during the regular season. Freshman Sloane Brazina finished 12th (1-Meter) and 13th (3-Meter).

At last year's Zones, Phipps earned a spot after a third place finish in the 3-meter. On the men's side, Sishc was as high as fifth in the platform, Garcia was tenth in the 1-meter, and Tyagi was seventh in the 3-meter.

Larry Reinhard, Jr. will round out the men's team, as he scored a best of 12th at last year's Zone Championships.

The women's championships will take place May 15-17 at Auburn, Ala., while the men's championships will take place May 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash..

Zone Schedule
Thursday, March 8
Men's 3m Prelims ,11 am - 12:30 pm
Men's 3m Finals, 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Women's 1m Prelims, 11 am - 1:30 pm
Women's 1m Finals, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Friday, March 9
Men's 1m Prelims, 11 am - 12:30 pm
Men's 3m Finals, 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Women's 3m Prelims, 11 am - 1:30 pm
Women's 3m Finals, 1:45 pm - 2:45 pm

Saturday, March 10
Women's Platform Prelims, 11 am - 12:15 pm
Women's Platform Finals, 12:30 pm - 1 pm
Men's Platform Prelims, 3:30-4:45 pm
Men's Platform Finals, 5 pm -5:35 pm