On the final day of the 2017 NCAA Zone D Diving Championships last week, juniors Alexa Beckwith, Madeline McKernan and Hunter Fritter of Mizzou Diving all earned a trip to the NCAA Championships. The three divers will compete alongside redshirt senior Lauren Reedy and sophomore Kyle Goodwin at the championships, since the two qualified earlier last week.

Fritter earned his trip to the NCAA Championships with a dominant performance on Wednesday. He started by scoring a 358.7 in the preliminary round to make his way to the final round of the meet. There, he scored a 339.445 to place sixth in the event and qualify for the championships.

Beckwith followed with a strong performance of her own. The junior notched a 246.3 in the preliminary round and a 240.9 in the final round to take her spot. Overall, Beckwith placed eighth on the platform, with a total of 487.2 for the Tigers.

McKernan rounded out the event by placing fourth on the platform to clinch herself a spot in the championships for the second time in her career. Last season, as a sophomore, she was named first team All-American for the event. In the preliminary round this year, McKernan scored a 256.3 and a 256.5 in the finals. She will be eligible to dive in the 1-meter event at NCAAs as well, since she finished in the top 12 in the meet on Tuesday.

Additionally, Reedy finished fifth in the women’s competition, with a total score on the day of 512.6, and Goodwin finished ninth in the men’s with a total of 648.7 points for the day. Both Reedy and Goodwin are eligible to compete in all three diving events at the NCAA Championships.

Last but not least, junior Kendra Kieser and sophomore Payton Conrad made the women’s platform final. Kieser earned 14th place with 444.2 points, and Conrad was right behind, placing 16th with 424.1 points for the Tigers.

“I’m so proud of how all our divers competed this week,” coach Jamie Sweeney said in a press release. “It was great to see Hunter put together 12 consistent dives today. He’s been close to qualifying in the past, so it’s awesome for him. Alexa as well. She barely missed a spot last year. She really had to hit her final two dives in finals, and she did.”

The women’s NCAA Championships are set for March 15-18, while the men’s meet is set for March 22-25. Both meets will take place at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.

_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_