ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Navy's Bradley Buchter (Jr., Hickory, N.C.) placed third in the one-meter springboard event Monday at the NCAA Zone A Diving Championship at Lejeune Hall in Annapolis, Md., to qualify for the NCAA Championship.  Buchter will travel to Austin, Texas, in two weeks to compete at the national championship for the third time in as many years.

In addition to Buchter's showing, it was a very successful first day for the entire Navy diving program as all four entered divers advanced to the finals (top 18 after the preliminary rounds of diving) in Monday's respective events.  

"What a great start to the meet," said Navy diving coach Rich MacDonald.  "The fact that all of our divers made it to the finals is a pretty big deal.  What I am most proud of is their consistency throughout the day.  Nobody really missed any dives.  That's what you need to do at a meet like this.

"I'm excited to see what Wednesday will bring."

Buchter totaled 737.65 points to finish in third place in the competition.  The top six divers on the one-meter board at Zone A advanced to the NCAA Championship.

"Bradley continued his dominance at the zone meet and had a great third-place finish," said MacDonald.  

Meghan Gerdes (So., Spring, Texas) narrowly missed qualifying for next week's women's NCAA Championship on the three meter as she accrued 545.50 points to finish in eighth place in the event.  The top-five women's divers on the three meter qualified for the national meet.  Gerdes finished 7.5 points in back of Harvard's Georgina Milne's fifth-place score.

"It was awesome to see Meghan in the hunt for one of the qualifying spots," said MacDonald.  "This was a great learning experience for her."

Also for Navy, Jake Hedrick (So., Hummelstown, Pa.) placed 14th in the men's one-meter event (582.40) and Hannah Montau (Fr., Germantown, Md.) finished in 14th place in the women's three-meter competition (518.90).

Competition continues at the zone meet Tuesday at noon and Wednesday at 1 p.m.