Senior Zones at FSU, Shelby Lerew and her partner Rachel Rubadue of USElite placed 2nd to Olympic Gold Medalist Laura Wilkinson and partner Kaylee Arnett to qualify for the Senior Nationals in 3M Synchro, mid-August at Texas A&M University

ORLANDO, Florida – Against fierce competition from Texas divers at Zones in Fort Lauderdale over the Fourth of July weekend, Team Orlando Diving will have 11 divers advancing to USA Diving National and Age Group Championships to be held in Tucson, Arizona July 23 – 31, 2010.

Top finishers for Team Orlando include Cinzia Calabretta, who will compete on 1 and 3 Meter and Platform – Cherie Hammond on 1 and 3 Meter and Tom Neubacher on 1 and 3 Meter and Platform – all in the 16-18 year old Group.

14 – 15 year olds traveling to Tucson will be Sydney Couch, Wallace Layland and Joseph Dowd – each competing on all 3 boards, while Shelby Lerew will compete on 1 and 3 Meter.

Once again – the younger kids did quite well with 12 – 13 year olds Rileigh Knox, Mya Kraeger and Abby Howell advancing to compete on the 1 and 3 Meter boards – with Avery Saunders competing on all 3 boards in the 11 and under group.

The Zones meet was one of 5 final qualifying Meets conducted throughout the country to determine finalists for the annual USA Diving/Speedo Diving Junior National Championships.

The top 6 finishers, beyond those already pre-qualified, on each springboard and platform event from Zone D Championships qualify for the Junior National Championships while divers finishing in 7th through 12th place earned the right to compete in USA Diving’s Age Group National Championships.

Team Orlando will also be very well represented at the AAU National Championships being held in Coral Springs in August with Chelsea Uranaka, Grayson Kim, Maggie Merriman, , Grace Cable, Jack Dowd
Emma Kraeger, Erin Potter, Victoria Chan and Maddie Howell all competing.