Hokie ClubROCKVILLE, Md. - Four members of the Virginia Tech men’s and women’s diving team qualified for the 2014 AT&T USA Diving Championships over the weekend. Sophomores T.J. Shinholser and Ashley Buchter, senior Kelli Stockton and former H2Okie Ryan Hawkins secured their spots in three events at the 2014 USA Diving National Preliminary Zone A Championships at the Shriver Aquatic Center.
Senior Kaylea Arnett is pre-qualified for the national diving championships in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform events, so she did not compete in the preliminaries.
For the men, Shinholser finished fourth in the 3-meter event, earning a score of 376.10 to advance to the national diving championships.
Hawkins, who already pre-qualified in the 3-meter and platform event, won the 3-meter synchronized event after teaming up with Jakob Kolod to tally 385.65 points.
Tech Junior Logan Stevens also competed in the preliminaries, making the finals in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter, but fell just short of qualifying.
For the women, two H2Okies qualified in the platform event when Buchter finished third with a score of 261.50 and Stockton won the event with a score of 306.10, 40 points above the second-place finisher.
Buchter and Stockton joined forces in the women’s 3-meter synchronized event to finish second after posting a 240.87 mark.
“It’s always good to have our Virginia Tech divers representing at the USA Diving nationals,” Head Diving Coach Ron Piemonte said. “It’s very important for their training to stay in a competitive frame of mind. This does nothing but help them as we go into the 2014 season.”
The weekend event was one of four zone qualifying meets around the country. The top five finishers in the individual events and the top three finishers in the synchronized events earned a berth to the national diving championship event next month.
Tech’s five qualified divers will head to the 2014 AT&T USA Diving Championships in the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Aug. 12-17.