March 12, 2004

FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason University qualified five divers to the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships, which are being held Friday and Saturday, March 12-13, at the Naval Academy's Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, MD.

Sophomore John Appleman (Fairfax, VA/Robinson Secondary), the 2003 Colonial Athletic Association Male Rookie Diver of the Year, will represent George Mason at the Zone Championships for the second consecutive season. Last year, he placed 15th on the 3-meter springboard and finished 16th in the 1-meter event. Appleman was third overall in both the 1- and 3-meter diving competitions at the 2004 CAA Championships.

Senior Jamie Downing (Midlothian, VA/Clover Hills) is one of three women representing Mason at the Diving Championships. This is her fourth consecutive trip to the event. The 2001 CAA Women's Rookie Diver of the Year and 2004 CAA Women's Diver of the Year won the 1-meter competition at the 2004 CAA Championships and placed second on the 3-meter springboard.

Also making her fourth consecutive Zone appearance is senior Ashley Craw (Nashville, TN/Father Ryan), who placed third at the 2004 CAA Championships in the 3-meter springboard and was fourth in the 1-meter event. Colleen Flack (Longhorne, PA/Council Rock), a freshman, will be making her first showing at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. She finished eighth in the 1-meter competition at the CAAs and placed fifth in the 3-meter event.

Junior Mary Campioli (Falls Church, VA/Bishop O'Connell), the 2002 CAA Women's Rookie Diver of the Year, qualified for her third Zone Diving Championships this season, but elected not to attend.

The competition begins Friday at 1 p.m. with the men's three-meter and the women's one-meter events, while Saturday will see the men's one-meter and the women's three-meter disciplines start at 11 a.m. and platform diving at 4 p.m. Admission is free to each of the three sessions.

Divers from each of the 67 schools in the Northeast Region are eligible for this zone championship, with about 30 schools expected to send competitors. Four women's divers will advance from this region to the Women's NCAA Championship, March 18-20 in College Station, Texas, as will four men's divers to their March 25-27 championship in East Meadow, N.Y.

The Naval Academy is just one of five sites around the country playing host to a zone diving championship this weekend, with the others taking place in Athens, Ga. (South), Bloomington, Ind. (Central), Houston, Texas (Midwest) and Oklahoma City, Okla. (West).