March 17, 2003

FAIRFAX, VA ... Freshman John Appleman (Fairfax, VA/Robinson), the first Mason male diver to advance as far as the NCAA Diving Zone Championships, finished 15th in the 3-meter (390.70) and 16th in the 1-meter (456.75) events during this past weekend's Zone 'A' Championships, held at University of Buffalo-SUNY.

Mary Campioli's (Falls Church, VA/Bishop O'Connell) performance, however, highlighted the effort put forth by George Mason's five participants.

A sophomore, Campioli won both the women's 1-meter (512.00) and platform (364.80) events to qualify for the NCAA Championships. She becomes the first Mason diver, male or female, to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which are being held at Auburn, March 20-22.

"It's a huge step for our program," said Mason head coach Peter Ward. "And it shows what a great job Roland [McDonald, diving coach] does in his work with the divers.

"For her to go out and win the 1-meter was tremendous," Ward continued. "But it is even more outstanding for her to go back out that night and win the platform event, because we don't even have a platform in our facility."

Jamie Downing (Midlothian, VA/Clover Hill), a junior, finished 13th in the women's 1-meter (461.80), while junior Ashley Craw (Nashville, TN/Father Ryan) and freshman Liz Gabriel (Rockville, MD/Magruder) finished 17th and 18th, respectively. Craw scored 436.05, while Gabriel posted 420.95.

Craw was 12th in the 3-meter (393.75), followed by Downing (14th, 375.75), Gabriel (17th, 367.80) and Campioli (18th, 354.25).