Arizona
Arizona diving continued its success on day two of the Wildcat Diving Invitational as the men finished in the top-two and the women broke into the top-three. Rafael Quintero posted a first-place finish in the 3-meter followed by Dominic Ricotta, while Sally Hackett finished third in the 1-meter.
On the women’s side, including 40 divers, Hackett took third in the 1-meter final with 273.55 after winning the prelims (292.80). She was followed by teammate Kaitlin Costello who totaled a score of 272.85, improving from sixth in the prelims. Karolyn Loftus finished eighth in the event with 251.20.
San Diego State’s Alexandra Caplan took first scoring 292.50 and NAU’s Chelsea Jackson placed second with 279.65.
For the men, a total of six divers competed in the 3-meter. Quintero earned a victory with a total score of 393.15, after also finishing first in both the prelims and consolation final. Ricotta took second in the event (371.75) with second-place finishes in the prelims and consolation final as well.
BYU’s Matt Denkers placed third with 324.00 followed by teammate Kevin Dreesen with 309.50.
The Wildcat Diving Invitational will conclude tomorrow starting at 11 a.m. MST at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Northern Arizona
Senior Chelsea Jackson finished Saturday’s 1-meter competition as the runner-up, marking her second championship appearance at the Wildcat Diving Invitational. Jackson moved up two spots from her preliminary standing by recording a finals score of 279.65, finishing only behind San Diego State’s Alexandra Caplan.
“We had a lot of people doing new dives, harder dives, and overall again it was a great performance by everyone,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “Chelsea really dove well. She missed one dive by a little. (If she doesn’t), she’s in there contending for the win. I was proud of what everyone did today.”
Jackson qualified for the 1-meter final with a prelim score of 269.60. In the finals, she leaped past Arizona’s Sally Hackett and Northern Colorado’s Savanna Meadows to finish second overall, coupling with her seventh-place finish on 3-meter on Friday.
Senior Carlye Townsend enjoyed a strong day, finishing third in the consolation final and 11th overall with a season-best score of 261.20. Townsend narrowly missed her first NCAA Zone qualifying score by less than four points, but was able to improve on her preliminary score by nearly 20 points.
“This was the first time that Carlye made consolations on both 3-meter and 1-meter,” Huffman said. “She just missed a qualifying score and this is a tough meet to do that. That was excellent.”
Townsend was one of three Lumberjacks to advance to the consolation final as she was joined in the second-eight divers by junior Alexa Geiger and freshman Christina Torrente. Torrente improved three spots after nabbing the 16th and final consolation spot, finishing 13th overall with a season-best score of 239.15, by almost 30 points. It was also the second consecutive day that she moved up the board following the preliminary round. Meanwhile, Geiger placed 14th overall with a score of 237.20 in the consolation final.
Sophomore Emma Simmonds, working her way back from an injury, finished 21st overall with a score of 224.30. Sophomore Alyssa Loeffelman posted a score of 208.10 to finish 30th and freshman Raquel Gonzales was 37th with a score of 194.25.
The Northern Arizona Lumberjack divers conclude their weekend in Tucson with Sunday’s platform competition starting at 11 a.m. It will be NAU’s first appearance on the tower this season.
“There will be a lot of new dives done tomorrow,” Huffman said. “We have some people who don’t have a lot of training up there. I’m excited to see what they can do. We’re going enjoy the experience of the training time we have down here.”
