March 13, 2004
ATHENS, Ga. -
For the first two years of her career, all Florida State University women's diver Tiffany Manning knows is that the season isn't over until the NCAA Championships. That will be the case again this year as she advances to the national summit after her performance on the three-meter board on Saturday (March 13) at the NCAA Zone "B" Qualifier.
Even though Manning (Mission Viejo, Calif.) placed eighth in the three-meter competition with a finals score of 487.70, by virtue of the divers ahead of her already securing a spot, she has punched her ticket to next week's championships in College Station, Texas.
"My goal was to qualify on the springboard before the tower and now that I've done that I really want to put together a good lift tomorrow on the tower," Manning said. "I haven't had a tower meet in two months so I really want to be competitive. Even though I've already qualified, not all of the pressure is gone. There is still going to be some pressure because I want to do well."
Placing just three spots back of Manning in 11th place was a rookie Brittany Lerew (Orlando, Fla.) with her tally of 470.60. The third Seminole in the finals was junior Courtney McClow (Jacksonville, Fla.) as she notched a score of 455.30 to take 16th. Florida State put its third diver in the top 20 when rookie Taryn Ignacio (Richmond, Ky.) placed 19th with her 271.95 during the prelims.
"Courtney has a good shot of qualifying tomorrow," diving coach Patrick Jeffrey said. "She hasn't put together a full tower meet, but she is due. We've changed one of her dives and now she has a more solid lift. Taryn did a good pretty good job today and she has a chance to do well tomorrow. I know she can make it tomorrow is she dives well and I know she can do it."
On the men's side, the Seminoles had four divers compete on the one-meter board. Topping the list was Curtis Schroeger (Shawnee Mission, Kan.) in 28th (247.30), while Stuart de la Rosa (Erdenhiem, Pa.) was one spot back at 246.95. Rounding out the top 30 was Peter Crane (Fairport, N.Y.) at 244.50 to go along with a 231.20 by Jason Bienlich (Ridley, Pa.) as he placed 35th.
The three-day competition concludes on Sunday with the women's and men's platform competition. Only Manning, McClow and Ignacio will be performing. The "B" Zone takes 11 divers with four automatic spots for the one and three-meter boards and three from the platform.
