GREENSBORO, North Carolina (March 7, 2021) - The FIU diving trio of Maha Gouda, Rachel Foord, and Mandy Song all competed at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships on Sunday, March 7, with day one of the event taking place at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina. 

"We didn't have our best day today," said Diving Coach Nick Yang. "But we still did some great things in the meet."

Day one consisted of the 1-meter dive, with the preliminary events taking place at 10:30 a.m. and the finals later at 12:30 p.m. Song and Foord scored 272.55 and 272.30 in the prelims to finish 9th and 10th, respectively. Gouda scored a 231.05 to place 26th in the prelims.

With the top-18 prelim finishers advancing to the finals, both Song and Foord continued on and recorded overall scores of 537.90 and 519.25, respectively. Song, the reigning 1-meter champion from last year's zones, finished 10th overall in the standings. Foord placed a few spots behind at 15th.

"Rachel nailed a 305c dive in the prelims, which has a degree of difficulty rating of 3.0," said Coach Yang. "And her making the 1-meter final this year was a big accomplishment!"

A 305c dive is a reverse dive with two-and-a-half somersaults in a tuck position.

"Mandy and Maha were remarkable," continued Yang. "Even though they missed some dives today, I am not worried because I know we will come back strong tomorrow like we always do. Coach Horner and I both agreed that we didn't have our best day on day one of Conference USA Championships also, and we came back the next two days and succeeded."

Only the top seven finishers in the 1-meter dive automatically advanced to the NCAA Championships on March 17-20, leaving the Panthers out of the national event in the 1-meter this season.

The Panthers will have an opportunity to rally Monday, March 8, when the 3-meter dive takes place on day two of NCAA Zones. Gouda, Song, and Foord will all compete in the 3-meter. The platform event will follow on day three.

Prelims will get underway beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, with finals beginning at 12:30 p.m. The top-18 finishers from the 3-meter prelims will advance to the final round again, while the top-7 in the 3-meter finals will advance to the National Championships.

A live stream of NCAA Zone B events will be available via the Greensboro Aquatic Center's Facebook page. Live stats will be broadcasted on Divemeets.com. 

SCHEDULE OF REMAINING EVENTS
Monday, March 8
3-meter Prelim – 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. ET
3-meter Final – 12:30-13:0 p.m. ET

Tuesday, March 9
Platform Prelim – 10:30-11:45 a.m. ET 
Platform Final – 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. ET

Number of Qualifying Spots for Zone B:
Women: 
1M - 7
3M - 7
Platform - 8

SOCIAL MEDIA 
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