BUFFALO, N.Y. – After an outstanding regular season, freshman diver Jacquelyn Gover represented the Northeastern women's diving team well during her first trip to the postseason earlier this month at the 2015 NCAA Zone A diving meet, held between March 9 and March 11 in Buffalo, New York.
 
Gover finished 48th overall in the 3-meter dive with a score of 218.75 and ended the 1-meter diving event in 50th overall with a score of 196.25. The first-year diver from North Easton, Massachusetts, was ranked ninth best among CAA entrants in the 3-meter event of the postseason meet and 10th best among her fellow conference competitors in the 1-meter event.
 
Zone diving meets serve as the mandated first round of the postseason for divers looking to qualify for the NCAA swimming and diving championships, held last week from March 19 to March 21 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Prior to the start of each season, the NCAA divides its Division I member institutions into five geographical zones labeled A (Northeast) through E (West). Northeastern's region, Zone A, consists of diving programs located in 13 states between Maine and Virginia, inclusive. The top five women's divers from each diving event at a zone meet automatically qualify for the NCAA championships, while the remaining spots are filled based on additional qualifying criteria.
 
Contrary to other NCAA sports where postseason qualification may be based solely upon winning one's conference tournament, divers can qualify for a zone meet at any point during the season if they score higher than the national qualification standards set for the 1-meter (265 points) and 3-meter dives (280 points). Gover surpassed the 265-point qualifying standard in the 1-meter dive for the first time on Oct. 25 against New Hampshire with a second-place score of 266.05. She went on to post three more scores above the qualifying threshold: a 271.25 at the Frank Elm Invitational on Nov. 22, a 267.40 against Drexel on Jan. 10, and a 286.35 against Vermont on Jan. 17.
 
On Feb. 22 at the CAA diving championships, Gover improved her 3-meter diving score by 23.25 points between the preliminary and consolation rounds as the freshman took home ninth place overall. The previous day, Gover netted an 11th-place result in the 1-meter dive (257.70), finishing three positions behind her teammate, Alyssa Seales.
 
Along with Gover, freshman Caroline Gonsalves also qualified for the NCAA Zone A diving meet, but withdrew prior to competing. Gonsalves achieved three scores that exceeded the 1-meter qualifying standard throughout the year, the highest coming on Nov. 22 at the Frank Elm Invitational (280.40).
 
Northeastern finished fourth overall at the CAA diving championships held last month between Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 in Newark, Delaware. Gover (15 points) led Seales (13), Gonsalves (8), and Megan Rutter (3) as the Huskies' best individual scorers in diving events at the league title meet.