ORLANDO, Florida – 16 divers from Team Orlando Diving have advanced to the USA Diving Summer Junior Zone D Championships as a result of their performances at the USA Diving Junior Summer Region 7 Championships, held this past weekend in Moultrie, Georgia.  The region meet was one of 10 Region Championships conducted throughout the country over the course of this past and upcoming weekends.

Girls 11+ Under 3M. Avery Saunders 3rd, Grayson Kim 6th, Maggie Merriman 4th.

The top 15 finishers on each springboard event from Region 7 Championships qualify for the Zone D Championships, which will be held June 30th – July 3rd at the Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Top finishers for Team Orlando include Cinzia Calabretta, top girls point leader for the Meet, winning Gold Medals on 1 and 3 Meter and Silver on Platform in the 16-18 age group – Chelsea Uranaka, taking the Silver on 3 Meter, also in the 16-18 age group – 14-15 year olds Sydney Couch taking Gold on 3 meter and Platform and Bronze on 1 meter and Shelby Lerew winning Silver 1 meter.

The younger team members also did well with 12-13 year old 1 meter medal winners Rileigh Knox and Mya Kraeger taking first and second with the same results in the 3 meter contest. Mya also went on to take Gold in Platform – sharing the medal stand with her sister Emma who took Silver on Platform, with team mate Abigail Howell placing 3rd .

Brothers Joey and Jack Dowd took home Silver Medals in Platform in their respective age groups with Joey tacking on a Bronze in his 1 meter event.

In the 11 and under Group – Platform placements were Maggie Merriman, Avery Saunders and Grayson Kim taking the top 3 spots while Avery Saunders took 3rd in 3 meter.

Hanging out at the hotel.

Divers finishing in the Top Six in Fort Lauderdale will advance to the USA Diving’s Speedo Junior National Championships to be held in Tucson, Arizona July 23rd  – 27th  while Divers finishing in 7th through 12th place will earn the right to compete in USA Diving’s Age Group National Championships July 29th – 31st – also being held in Tucson.

Cherie Hammond of the Dr. Phillips area has pre-qualified for the USA National Championships by placing in the Top Three at Winter East National Championships held at Miami of Ohio University in April – thereby bypassing the necessity to compete in Moultrie and Fort Lauderdale.  Additionally – Wallace Layland of South Orlando is also pre-qualified as a member of the 2009 Junior Pan Am Team.

Additional Team Members advancing from their Regional performance are Lauren Barton, Victoria Chan and Erin Potter.

USA Diving is recognized as the national governing body of the sport of diving within the United States.

For more information on the local diving team, contact Head Coach Wendy Lerew of Team Orlando Diving at (407) 491-5596.  Also visit www.USADiving.org to learn more about USA Diving and the Junior Olympic Diving Program.  Entire Meet Results can be found at www.DiveMeets.com.