Diving Duo to Represent Kansas at Zone Championships
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior Graylyn Jones and sophomore Nadia Khechfe will take to the diving boards one last time this season at the Zone D Diving Championships in College Station, Texas, March 7-9.
The two registered qualifying scores previously this season to earn invitations to the three-day diving competition. This will be the second trip to zones for both Jones and Khechfe, as the pair competed at last year’s event.
“It’s the second time for each of them, and that’s a big thing,” head diving coach Gabe Downey said. “This should give them a good opportunity to come in and have some familiarity with how it all works. Knowing what they know now and having that experience will definitely make it a lot easier.”
The contest will be structured much like the Big 12 Championships with the one-meter competition held on the first day, then the three-meter and platform contests will follow over the next two days. The biggest difference from the conference meet is that there will be a larger group of divers, with the top-18 advancing to finals versus the top-eight.
“At Big 12s you have 20 girls on the board, this meet there’s going to be 50 and they’re all good,” Downey said. “It’s a tough meet, there are several girls that have been All-Americans, and there are several that will be. So competitively we are trying to move up from where we were last year, I think we can but it’s going to be a tough fight.”
Jones turned in a top-10 finish on the one-meter boards at the league meet and tallied a lifetime-best score of 179.9 on platform with a 12th place finish. Khechfe finished 15th on the platform, scoring 173.7 points.
“It’s a lot of fun to watch,” Downey said. “You get some great dives on all sides of it and it’s fun to dive with the best. We’re really excited to get down there and see what’s in store.”
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