By Patrick Stumpf
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Three members of the Green Bay diving team traveled south on Sunday morning to participate in the 2016 NCAA Zone D Meet, which was held from March 7-9 on the campus of Texas A&M.
Phoenix senior Tanner Nordlund (Rice Minn.), along with sophomores Michael Klemm (Rockford, Ill.) and Bailey Wagner (West Bend, Wis.) qualified into the nearly 100 collegiate male and female field all competing for a berth in the 2016 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Atlanta, Ga.
In the 3-meter competition on Monday, Klemm took 20th while Nordlund placed 29th among the group of 33 elite divers at the meet. Wagner was forced to withdraw from competition due to illness.
Klemm's final score of 305.05 stacks up as the third-highest score in Green Bay's history at the NCAA Zone meet, behind Mitchell Spaeth (309.0, 2013) and Danny Pogue (305.35, 2012).
The meet continued on Tuesday with the men's 1 meter competition, as both Klemm and Nordlund got their final shots to compete in 2015-16 against a field of 29 divers.
Klemm, who was appearing in the event for the first time since winning the Horizon League Title, finished his season with a 22nd place finish posting a score of 279.60, while Nordlund wrapped up his Phoenix career with a score of 266.20– the best of his previous three NCAA Zone diving meets– which was good for 24th.
"This was a nice way for Tanner [Nordlund] to finish up," said diving coach Tom Stover. "Michael [Klemm] continues to gain valuable big meet experience against top talent that will only help him as he looks ahead to next season."
The NCAA Zone D was one of five Zone meets across the nation, and featured Division I divers from Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.
The top five female and top four male divers from each event at their respective zone diving meet will earn a spot at the NCAA Championships. Additional place finishers in each event at each zone will be eligible based on the number of divers from that zone that finished in the top 16 at the previous year's NCAA Championships.
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