FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Matt Denkers placed 10th in the platform diving finals during the last day of the Zone E NCAA Diving Championships on Wednesday.  

“We had several finalists in all three events throughout this meet and set a new record for our BYU men’s team,” BYU head dive coach Tyce Routson said. Matt Denkers put in a solid effort and almost made the top seven to qualify for the NCAA national champsionships. I am proud of how the men and Morgan Mellow supported each other throughout the long week. They capped the season off well, are mentally stronger, and are ready to improve their performances next year."

All five of the men who participated in the platform diving made finals. Denkers received a score of 305.15 in the platform preliminaries and combined that with his final score to get a total of 554.35 points to place him in 10th.

“Eric Muir displayed some flashiness with some high-scoring dives,” Routson said. “His 3-1/2 inward and 3-1/2 somersaults earned him the highest points he has received on platform all season.”

Muir and Kevin Dreesen followed in 12th and 13th place, respectively. Muir totaled 537.85 points and Dreesen accumulated 519.90 throughout the course of his dives.

Senior Jordan Tuckfield placed 16th with a score of 423.50 and freshman Ryan Evans took 17th with 413.00 total points.

Morgan Mellow, from Mesa, Arizona, participated in the women’s platform preliminaries and ended in 35th place with a score of 170.85.

Dreesen and swimmer Payton Sorenson qualified to compete in the 2017 Division I NCAA Men’s Championships, which will be held March 22-25 in Indianapolis, Indiana. More details will be posted on the swimming schedule page as they become available.

PROVO, Utah – Divers from the BYU men’s team and Morgan Mellow from the women’s team will compete in the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships at Flagstaff, Arizona, from Monday to Wednesday, Mar. 6 – Mar. 8.

“Our diving team is coming off of personal-best scores from the conference championships,” head BYU dive coach Tyce Routson said. “We will use that momentum to stay consistent and confident during these qualifying prelims and the finals. We have the ability to qualify multiple members of the team in the top seeds of the championships. This will be a great opportunity for us to band together and stay strong.”

Routson has been head diving coach at BYU for two years and has taken all members of the men’s diving team to the NCAA Championships both years.

Four of the six members of the men’s dive team previously qualified in one or more events throughout the season. At the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, Trayton Speth and Ryan Evans received their qualifying scores during the 1-meter competition.  

Mellow is the only member of the women’s dive team that qualified to compete in the NCAA Diving Championships. On the last day of the MPSF Championships, she scored 226.25 in the Platform, which was higher than the minimum score of 225 points that was needed.

There are 21 other schools competing in the diving event, including Stanford University, Arizona State University, University of Southern California and University of Arizona, which are all ranked nationally in the top 20.

Every dive will count in this contest and scores from the prelims and finals will be added together to create qualifying spots for each diver.  

Live stats can be found at DiveMeets.com and results for each day can be found on the BYU schedule page.

Events scheduled for each day: