The University of Florida men’s and women’s diving team is on hand in Auburn, Ala. At the James E. Martin Aquatic Center for the NCAA Zone B Diving meet for a chance to advance to their respective National Championship meet.

A total of 10 spots for the women and eight spots for the men are up for grabs as the Zone meet marks the only opportunity for collegiate divers to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The women’s NCAA Women’s Championships will take place March 15-17 again in Auburn, Ala. While the men’s NCAA Championships are slated for March 22-24 in Federal Way, Wash.

Four divers in all are representing Florida at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. Senior Kaylee Doback (Brandon, Fla.) is Florida’s lone representative for the women in the six-state region competition. The men are represented by senior David Springfels (Bradenton, Fla.), redshirt sophomore Chris Jones (Palm City, Fla.) and sophomore Mike Lewark (Davie, Fla.).

Lewark led the way for the Gators on the first day of competition with a 13^th-place finish off the 3-meter springboard. The sophomore diver who has led UF off the boards throughout the season scored a 340.50 in the preliminary round to advance to the finals and vie for a spot to the NCAA meet on the first night of competition. The sophomore diver went on to score a total of 696.45 points to finish 13^th overall.

He was followed by fellow teammates Jones who finished 25^th overall with a 295.25 score and Springfels who totaled a 234.25 mark to finish 35^th  off the 3-meter boards.

Miami’s Samuel Dorman took home the 3-meter championship after totaling 793.45 points. Dorman was followed by a pair of Tennessee divers in Mauricio Robles Rodriguez (786.95), and Ryan Helms (762.10) who finished second and third, respectively, to advance to the NCAA Championships.

Doback, the lone female diver representing the Orange and Blue, just missed advancing to the women’s 1-meter finals when she finished 19^th in the preliminary round with a score of 254.30.

Auburn advances two divers to the NCAA Championships as Vennie Dantin took home the top spot off the 1-meter boards with a final score of 594.55 and teammate Anna Aguero finished third with 583.85 points. South Carolina’s Courtney Forcucci will also advance as she finished second (590.35) in the final round of competition.

The second day of NCAA Zone B Diving Regional will continue again tomorrow with men’s 1-meter preliminaries at 11 a.m. with finals to follow. The women’s 3-meter prelims are slated to begin at 3:30 p.m., with finals immediately after. Live scoring is available through www.DiveMeets.com or by following this link.

For all the latest up-to-date information about the Florida swimming and diving team, make sure to follow us on Twitter at @GatorZoneSwimDv.