MOORHEAD, Minn. — Minnesota State Moorhead swimming & diving will see junior diver Zoe Bjerke compete at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships on Tuesday. Bjerke will compete in both the 1-meter and 3-meter pre-qualifying dives for an opportunity to advance into the final field of student-athletes.
Live results will be available at msumdragons.com.
Bjerke’s Season At A Glance…Bjerke earned a trip to the NCAA Championships, qualifying for 1-meter in MSUM’s first meet of the season. The Valley City, N.D., native scored a 250.62 to secure qualification. Bjerke earned her 3-meter provisional score on January 23 against UMary, scoring a 269.40. In total, Bjerke had nine events wins on the diving board during the regular season.
At The Conference Meet…Bjerke would place fifth overall in 3-meter diving at the NSIC Swimming & Diving Championships. The junior would score a 400.65 in preliminaries before earning the fifth-place marks with a count of 409.05. Bjerke also placed eighth in 1-meter competition at the conference meet, scoring a 363.90 in the finals session.
Bjerke’s All-Time Ranks…Bjerke has placed herself in MSUM’s top ten list in several diving categories. Her top 3-meter six dive score of 269.40 set against UMary on January 23 sits as the second-best score in program history (Emily Pascavis, 290.78). Bjerke set her top 1-meter (six dive) score at 243.40 against Minnesota State on January 31. That mark is the sixth-best performance in program history.
The First Since…Bjerke is the first Dragon to qualify for the NCAA’s pre-qualifying meet since Alexis Ylniemi in 2020 with that meet being canceled due to COVID-19. The junior will be the first Dragon to compete at the meet since Amber Westereng in 2019, who placed 36th in 3-meter and 43rd in 1-meter that season. Moorhead has not had a diver move past the pre-qualifying round since Emily Pascavis in 2015.
Charlie King is in his eighth season as MSUM’s head swimming & diving coach. He will be assisted at the national meet by assistant diving coach Beka Horejsi.
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