March 14, 2012

HOUSTON - University of Houston diver Julia Lonnegren heads the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend hosted by Auburn University inside the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

Lonnegren will compete in all three diving events at the Championships for the second time in her career. Lonnegren advanced to the championships by virtue of qualification at the NCAA Zone Diving meet last weekend.

The Forolund, Sweden, native had her top finish in the platform as she took second in what some consider the toughest Zone region of the nation. She also finished seventh in the 1M and took 33rd in the 3M.

Lonnegren was named the Conference USA Diver of the Year after sweeping all three events at the conference meet hosted by UH Feb. 15 - 18. She became the fourth diver in conference history to sweep the events with the other tree all hailing from Houston as well (Anastasia Pozdniakova 2009, Tania Cagnotto 2006 and Yulia Pakhalina 2002).

With another year of experience, Lonnegren is ready to square off against the nation's best.

"I have improved in competing this year," said Lonnegren. "I've been able to stay calm and enjoy the competition instead of getting nervous. The Zones are really similar to this competition so it was good to see how to handle everything last weekend."

Head diving coach Jane Figueiredo, no stranger to the NCAA Diving Championships as a coach or a competing athlete, has seen

"She's really stepped it up," said Figueiredo. "She's a little bit more mature and experienced this year. We expect her to try and score in two out of the three boards. I'm excited to see her get out there and compete against the best and carry on our proud diving tradition here at Houston."

Lonnegren will compete in one event per day beginning with the 1M on Thursday, the 3M on Friday and culminating with the platform on Saturday. The preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. each day with a final session following at 7 p.m.

TV, LIVE VIDEO AND LIVE RESULTS
ESPN3 will carry a live broadcast of the finals sessions on Friday and Saturday. The remaining four sessions will be streamed live via AUHD on CBSSports.com. There is no charge for the video streams for the prelims sessions or Thursday's finals.

Live results for the swimming portion of the meet will be available through NCAA.com, and live results for diving can be found at DiveMeets.com.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, March 15
11 a.m. -- Prelims
-200 freestyle relay
-500 freestyle
-200 individual medley
-50 freestyle
-400 medley relay
1:30 p.m. -- 1-meter diving prelims
3:30 p.m. -- 1-meter diving consolation
7 p.m. -- Finals
-200 freestyle relay
-500 freestyle
-200 individual medley
-1-meter diving
-400 medley relay

Friday, March 16
11 a.m. -- Prelims
-200 medley relay
-400 individual medley
-100 butterfly
-200 freestyle
-100 breaststroke
-100 backstroke
1:30 p.m. --3-meter diving prelims
3:30 p.m. --3-meter diving consolation
7 p.m. -- Finals
-200 medley relay
-400 individual medley
-100 butterfly
-200 freestyle
-100 breaststroke
-100 backstroke
-3-meter diving
-800 freestyle relay (timed finals)

Saturday, March 17
11 a.m. -- Prelims
-200 backstroke
-100 freestyle
-200 breaststroke
-200 butterfly
-400 freestyle relay
1:30 p.m. -- Platform diving prelims
3 p.m. -- Platform diving consolation
5 p.m. (approx.) -- 1650 freestyle (all but fastest heat)
7 p.m. -- Finals
-1650 freestyle (fastest heat)
-200 backstroke
-100 freestyle
-200 breaststroke
-200 butterfly
-Platform diving
-400 freestyle relay

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