Three Iowa State divers finished the 2022 season at the NCAA ‘D’ Zone Championships in Madison, Wisc. 

The postseason meet featured the region’s best divers competing on the one-meter and three-meter springboards and the platform event from Madison, Wisc. 

Iowa State’s standout diver Michelle Schlossmacher Smith did not finish the competition due to an injury.  

Schlossmacher Smith made an appearance in the finals of the platform event at last year’s Zone diving championships in Lexington, Ky.

The scores

On Monday, Iowa State’s lead diver and team captain Schlossmacher Smith competed and scored a 242.45 on the one-meter springboards. The senior’s six dives put her 29th in the field of 48 divers in the preliminary round. 

Sitting in middle of the pack, Schlossmacher Smith was significantly under her season high score of 308.93. 

Monday’s one-meter event would end up being the last six dives of Schlossmacher Smith’s senior campaign. She would not compete in the last two days of the event due to an injury. 

Iowa State was also represented by junior Jayna Misra and sophomore Joscelyn Buss. 

Buss, who competed in all three of the meet’s events, finsihed 23rd on platform, 39th on three-meter and 45th on the one-meter boards. This comes after Buss won the consolation finals at the Big 12 tournament in Morgantown, W.Va. 

Misra was among the field only on the springboard events. The junior scored 243.95 on three-meter, which was good enough for 34th place. Misra was 42nd among the field on the one-meter dive. 

A season ago

The Cyclone representation at the NCAA Zone level marks an improvement for the program. Last season, Schlossmacher Smith was the only Cyclone to appear in the field at zones. 

Just one season later, head diving coach Jeff Warrick’s squad has three divers representing Iowa State. 

The future for diving

Team captain Schlossmacher Smith is entitled one year of extra eligibility on account of the COVID-19 shortened year. The diver broke records throughout her senior campaign, including an Iowa State record on senior night against Kansas. 

Coming off two All-Big 12 finishes at the Big 12 Championships, Iowa State’s leader was unable to finish her career on two of her stronger events, the platform and three-meter. 

Schlossmacher Smith was fourth in the Big 12 conference on platform and sixth in the three-meter in Morgantown. She withdrew from both events Tuesday and Wednesday at the Madison, Wisc. competition. 

If the senior decides to return to the Iowa State squad, the Cyclones would return three zone qualifying divers to the roster. Regardless, Warrick and diving department will see Misra, Buss and freshman Lauren Kimball back for another season in the 2022-23 campaign.