NIAGARA UNIV. — Niagara Purple Eagles diver JaRon Williams is slated to participate in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va. on Monday, March 6 and Tuesday, March 7. Williams, a Niagara Falls native, is just the second Niagara diver to qualify for the event in the program’s history. Ian O’Rourke, the program’s record holder on both the 1- and 3-meter boards, competed in the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in 2009, 2011, and 2012.
Williams qualified for the zone championships with his score of 301.57 on the 1-meter board at Binghamton on Oct. 22, 2016. Williams is one of just five male divers from the MAAC headed to this year’s Zone A championship.
Williams will compete in the men’s 1-meter diving championship on Monday and the men’s 3-meter diving championship on Tuesday. Both events are set for a 12 p.m. start time, and live meet results will be posted on DiveMeets.
The top three finishers on both boards advance to the 2017 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Ind., where the men’s national championship takes place from March 22 to 25.
Season Highlights
JaRon Williams qualified for the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships back on Oct. 22, 2016 in a road meet against the Binghamton Bearcats. Williams took first place on the 1-meter board with his qualifying score of 301.57. He then swept the men’s diving events by scoring a 277.50 on the 3-meter board for another first-place finish. Williams’ 301.57 in the 1-meter diving event placed him second on the program’s top 10 all-time for that event. On Nov. 6 in his first home meet of the season against the Colgate Raiders, Williams claimed second place in the program records on the 3-meter board with a score of 297.68. After scoring a 259.50 on the 1-meter board, Williams picked up his second diving sweep of the season. Williams was named MAAC Male Diver of the Week on Nov. 9, 2016 following his successful meet against Colgate. He was one of three Purple Eagles to win weekly accolades that week, joining teammates Alexander Pizzo (MAAC Male Swimmer of the Week) and Shawn Warner (CollegeSwimming MAAC Swimmer of the Week). Williams opened the second semester with two top-eight finishes at the UB Diving Invitational, finishing seventh on the 3-meter board (239.90) and eighth on the 1-meter board (220.15). In a home meet against Battle of the Bridge rival Canisius on Jan. 21, Williams nearly broke his career-best set in November on the 3-meter board (289.05) and he scored a 269.70 on the 1-meter board, taking third in both events. Williams’ swept the men’s diving events at a dual meet for the third time in the 2016-17 campaign at St. Bonaventure in the regular season finale on Jan. 28. He posted his best 1-meter score since his NCAA Zone-qualifying score at Binghamton (279.98), and he took the top spot with a 249.00 in the 3-meter diving event.
MAAC Recap
Williams medaled with a top-eight finish on both the 1- and 3-meter boards at the 2017 MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships. In the 1-meter conference championship on Feb. 8, Williams took fifth in the preliminaries with a score of 264.20 before finishing sixth in the finals at 248.40. On Feb. 10, Williams again approached his career-best on the 3-meter board set during the Colgate meet, scoring a 291.90. Williams secured fourth place with a score of 269.50 in the finals.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
