March 9, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech freshman Tony Burkhardt, senior Paul McCarty, sophomore Laurissa Prystaj and junior Amy Sutton will all compete in the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships in Athens, Ga., on the campus of the University of Georgia. The diving meet is scheduled to run from Friday, March 12 through Sunday, March 14.
Action begins Friday morning with the women’s one-meter prelims at 10 a.m. The finals for the event are scheduled for 12:15 p.m. The men’s three-meter competition is set to get underway at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s slate includes the men’s one-meter event at 10 a.m. with women’s three-meter to begin at 3:30 p.m.
The platform event will take place on Sunday, with the men set to begin at 10 a.m. with the women to follow at 12:30 p.m.
Results from the zone meets across the country will determine the diving participants at this year’s NCAA Championships for both men and women.
Burkhardt tallied a Tech season-best score of 495.85 in the three-meter, 11-dive event to finish fifth at the ACC Championships. He ranks second on the one-meter board (324.75) and in the three-meter, six-dive event (302.55).
McCarty finished 15th on the one-meter springboard and 17th on the three-meter board at last year’s NCAA Zone B Diving Championships. The Ypsilanti, Mich., native holds the top scores on the Tech squad on the one- and three-meter boards, with a school record score of 335.09 on the one-meter board. McCarty scored 486.20 points in 11 dives on the three-meter board at the ACC Championships to finish sixth.
Prystaj broke the school record on the three-meter springboard on Jan. 31, with a score of 299.25. She finished 36th on the one-meter springboard at last year’s Zone Diving Championships.
Sutton will be heading to her first NCAA Zone Diving Championships this weekend. The Hoover, Ala., native tallied high scores of 260.40 and 257.56 on the one- and three-meter boards, respectively. Sutton finished the ACC Championships with a score of 406.65 in the 11-dive, three-meter diving event.
Following this weekend’s diving meet, the 2004 Women’s NCAA Championships will be contested in College Station, Texas, at Texas A&M. Freshman Vesna Stojanovska will become the second Tech women’s competitor at the meet, with qualifying times in the 200-yard butterfly, 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle events.
