BUFFALO — After an overall memorable performance from the University at Buffalo women’s swimming and diving team at the Mid-American Conference Championships on February 23 – February 25, another Bull has been selected to compete at the NCAAs.
Abbey Croce’s performance at both the MAC Championship and NCAA Zone Qualifiers landed her a spot in competing in both the one- and three-meter dives at the NCAAs on March 15 – March 18.
Abbey Croce was selected to the All-MAC Second Team after taking silver in the three-meter dive with a score of 305.60. Her success only continued as she competed in NCAA Zone Qualifiers. In preliminaries of the three-meter dive, Croce posted a score of 293.30, she improved on that score during the finals to finish with 566.00 points for seventh. Her score landed her in seventh place and allowed her to compete at NCAAs this upcoming week. Croce also posted an overall score of 533.10 on the one-meter dive to qualify for NCAAs. Croce becomes the second female diver in program history to qualify for NCAAs.
Kelly Moran and Mackenzie Moss also performed well for the Bulls. Moran qualified for finals at NCAA Zones on the three-meter dive. She ultimately landed in 15th place with a score of 530.60. Moss made it to finals with Croce on the platform dive. Moss finished seventh overall with a score of 417.00, missing NCAAs by hundredths of a point.
For the men, Nick Rodriguez qualified for finals on every dive, while Troy Birdsall qualified for finals on two dives. Rodriguez was the lone Bull to qualify for finals on the one-meter dive. He posted an overall score of 620.85 to finish in eighth place. Rodriguez also landed in the finals on the three-meter dive with teammate Birdsall. Rodriguez finished eighth overall with a score of 677.10, and Birdsall finished ninth overall with a score of 675.30. All four of the men qualified for the finals on the platform dive. Dan Roche led the way for the Bulls in seventh place with a score of 620.50. Rodriguez came in ninth, Birdsall in 11th, and Kristian Santos in 13th.
Abbey Croce will compete with Megan Burns at the NCAAs on March 15-18.
