March 14, 2004

ATHENS, GA. - University of North Carolina senior diver Eric Poitras is one of 13 men's divers to qualify for the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships to be held March 25-27 in Hempstead, N.Y. Poitras qualified out of the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships at the University of Georgia which concluded Sunday.

Poitras is the first Tar Heel to qualify for the NCAA national meet since Nunzio Esposto in 1991. He also qualified out of Zone B, the toughest and most competitive of the five zones in the country.

In his final event on Sunday, Poitras placed 10th in platform diving with a score of 415.00. UNC freshman Kirsten Ytterbo placed 13th in women's platform diving with her score of 320.85.

The complete list of NCAA qualifiers from Zone B are as follows:

Men's NCAA qualifiers (13):
Aaron Ashworth, Alabama
Todd Avery, Georgia
Andy Bradley, South Carolina
Matt Bricker, Auburn
Chris Colwill, Georgia
Caesar Garcia, Auburn
Phillip Jones, Tennessee
Eric Poitris, North Carolina
Mario Rodriquez, Kentucky
Steven Segerlin, Auburn
Derek Starks, Miami
Jevon Tarantino, Tennessee
Miquel Velazquez, Miami

Women's NCAA qualifiers (11):
Lane Bassham, Alabama
Allison Brennan, South Carolina
Holly Hodges, South Carolina
Taryn Ignacio, Florida State
Lauren King, South Carolina
Tiffany Manning, Florida State
Lauren McCalley, Tennessee
Crystal Rasmussen, Alabama
Ashley Rubenstein, Auburn
Jessica Thompson, Kentucky
Jessica Wantz, LSU