LARAMIE, Wyo. (March. 9, 2019) – Four Wyoming divers will compete at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships hosted by Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz. The competition is set to begin on Monday at the Douglas J. Wall Aquatic Center.  Beginning Thursday, members from the Cowboy and Cowgirl swimming teams will participate in the CSCAA National Invitational Championship. The event will run through Saturday at the Busbey Natatorium in Cleveland, Ohio.
 
The senior duo of CeeJay Harris and Peyton GrandPre along with freshman McKenna Houlihan will represent the Cowgirls while senior Ryan Russi will be the lone Cowboy competing. This will be the fourth appearance at Zones for Russi, the second appearance for Harris while GrandPre and Houlihan will be competing for the first time.
 
GrandPre is coming off an All-Mountain West performance in the platform event while also earning an 11^th place finish in the 1-meter and a 12^th place finish in the 3-meter at the Mountain West Championships. Harris and Houlihan both finished in the top 15 in the platform event, taking tenth and 13^th respectively.
 
Russi had a very successful performance at the WAC Championships where he earned All-Conference honors in all three events. In the 1-meter, Russi recorded a score of 269.35 to finish third. In the 3-meter, he had a career high score of 342.05 to finish second, and in the platform event he placed fourth with a mark of 280.40.
 
Competition for the divers will start on Monday with the Cowgirls set to compete in the 3-meter event while Russi will start off his Zone championship by competing in the - meter event.
 
To qualify for the NIC, individuals and relay may qualify for the CSCAA National Invitational Championship by winning their respective events (at) at a collegiate conference championship. In addition, any individual or relay team who equals or surpasses the CSCAA 'A' standard during the qualifying period shall be eligible to compete.
 
Amongst the line-up competing are Wyoming's two conference champions in senior Isobel Ryan and junior Seth Borgert. Ryan claimed the MW title in the 100 backstroke after she recorded a career-best time 52.66 in the finals. Borgert would earn his title at the WAC championships with a personal best time of 15:25.28 in the 1650 freestyle finals. Sophomore Hannah Mclean-Leonard will also be back in the pool after setting a new school record in the 100 butterfly with a time 52.96 at the MW championships.
 
"It's a chance for us to and participate in postseason competition at a national level. There will be 71 teams competing this year so it will be a big event for us and see where we stack up within the mid-division colleges." Head Coach Dave Denniston said. "It also gives some of our senior's one last chance to compete together and for our younger kids it's just embracing the idea that there is something to be striving for it."  
 
Events will get underway on Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m. MT with individuals competing in the 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 400 medley relays plus the 200 freestyle relay.