Lehman Finishes Third At Zones, Advances to NCAA Championships

Monday, March 6

Christiansburg, Va.

All Day

James Madison University

NCAA Zone A Diving Championships

Lehman Finishes Third At Zones, Advances to NCAA Championships

3/7/2017 5:39:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

@JMUSwimDive Tuesday Results NCAA Championships

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – Senior Olivia Lehman advanced to her second consecutive NCAA Championship after a third-place finish on the 1-meter Tuesday during the NCAA Zone A Qualifiers inside the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

Lehman advanced to Tuesday's final after finishing fourth in the preliminaries with a score of 281.85. She accumulated 289.75 points during finals to bring her point total to 571.60 to finish third amongst the 19 divers competing in the final round to earn her second consecutive automatic bid to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Ind.

Freshmen Carlyn McNeely and Hope Byrum both competed during Tuesday's preliminaries. McNeely finished 26th with 229.85 points while Byrum totaled 213.85 points to place 36th.

QUOTING DIVING COACH JOHN WOLSH
"The depth and quality in this meet has been much better than it has in the past few years. It is very difficult to get out of this event and make it to NCAAs. Today, Hope [Byrum] and Carlyn [McNeely} both competed very well. They each missed one dive a little, but that was it. Olivia [Lehman] was fantastic. I don't think she dove better all year long than what she did today. Of course, today was the right day to do it. I'm super proud of her."

TWEET OF THE MEET

Huge S/O to @LIVstrong328 for qualifying for NCAAs (again)!!!!! #DDP ????@JMUSwimDive @JMUSports
— Claire Adkins (@claire_adkins) March 7, 2017

QUOTING OLIVIA LEHMAN
"Honestly, I was so surprised. I did not even imagine that I would be back up in the top five again this year. I know that I dove really well, but the rest of the girls were really good also. I had no expectation at all on my place. When I saw third, I was ecstatic. I was so shocked. I am very pleased with it and am so excited to be heading back to NCAAs in Indiana where a lot of family is. They will get to watch me for my last meet ever."

DUKES AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Returning to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season, Lehman is just one of two Dukes to ever qualify for the championship met. Kim Helfrich represented the Dukes at the 2011 NCAA Championships, finishing 24th on the 1-meter and 28th on the 3-meter. Last season, Lehman finished 40th on the 1-meter while placing 49th on the 3-meter.

POSTMEET WITH LEHMAN

UP NEXT
Lehman will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. for the 2017 NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships. The competition will take place over March 15-18 at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI. The 1-meter diving trails will be held on Thursday, March 16 at 12:30 p.m. with the consolation final immediately following. The 1-meter final will take place on Thursday evening at 6 p.m.