Arizona
Arizona diving concluded the Wildcat Diving Invitational with two victories in the platform. Sally Hackett was victorious in the women’s platform while Rafael Quintero finished first in the men’s intrasquad competition.
For the women, a total of 30 divers competed in the platform. Hackett won the event with a score of 272.25, 59.2 points ahead of the second place finisher. Karolyn Loftus took sixth scoring 195.20 while Kaitlin Costello placed 12th with 180.65.
Idaho’s Janelle Lucas posted a second-place finish with a total of 213.05. Lucas was followed by NAU’s Raquel Gonzales (211.15) and Chelsea Jackson (210.35). Alexandra Caplan from San Diego State took fifth with 200.05.
On the men’s side, Arizona’s Quintero and Dominic Ricotta were the only divers. Quintero finished first scoring an impressive 431.05, edging out teammate Ricotta, who followed with a score of 316.75.
Overall, the Cats won all but one event in the Wildcat Diving Invitational. For the men, Quintero swept every event while Ricotta finished in the top-three. Costello earned a first-place finish in the women’s 3-meter on day one, and Hackett took first in the platform on day three.
Up next, Arizona swimming will head to Austin, Texas to compete at the Texas Invitational starting Thurs. Dec. 3 through Sat. Dec. 5.
BYU
Matt Denkers had a big third-place finish for BYU dive Saturday as the Cougars finished the Wildcat Diving Invitational in Tucson, Arizona.
“The men's and women's teams did a lot of diving in this competitive format and among this level of competition,” BYU head diving coach Tyce Routson said. “We can take this experience and use it to benefit our preparation towards conference and NCAA zones.”
In the men’s 3-meter dive, Denkers scored a 296.95 for third in the preliminary round and then took third place in the finals with a 324.00. Kevin Dreesen placed third in the consolation round with a score of 337.35.
In the preliminary round of the women’s 1-meter dive, Ali Tippetts-Kottcamp was the top performer for the BYU women, scoring a 213.45.
The BYU divers won't compete again until Jan. 9 next year against Grand Canyon. The swim team will travel with a select group of swimmers in two weeks to compete at the Texas Invite on Dec. 2-5.
Northern Arizona
In their first platform competition of the season, and final day of the Wildcat Diving Invitational, the Northern Arizona divers placed six athletes in the top 16 to cap a positive weekend in Tucson. Freshman Raquel Gonzales and senior Chelsea Jackson highlighted NAU’s performances on Sunday with third and fourth place finishes respectively.
“When you have anyone in the medals (top three) or in the finals (top eight), it’s excellent,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “Raquel and Chelsea did a great job there, but I was really proud of all of them. We had everyone doing new dives and for the first time out on platform, it was a great day.”
Gonzales, an age group qualifier for the 2014 USA Diving National Championships on platform, excelled in her first collegiate platform action placing third with a score of 211.15. One spot behind in fourth overall, Jackson collected her third top seven finish in as many days, recording a score of 210.35.
NAU’s next four divers finished in succession, manning the 13th through 16th spots. Leading this group was freshman Christina Torrente, who like Gonzales was making her collegiate platform debut. Torrente posted a score of 176.70, giving her three top 13 finishes this weekend. Junior Alexa Geiger followed with a score of 173.45 and senior Carlye Townsend was next with a score of 170.20. Rounding out the top 16 was sophomore Alyssa Loeffelman, who notched a career-best score of 169.10.
Sophomore Emma Simmonds’ score of 149.65 earned her a 25th place overall finish.
Collectively over the weekend, NAU had five top eight finishes on 1-meter, 3-meter and platform combined, with Jackson accounting for three of those. Add in 10 more performances in the next eight, and NAU posted 15 top 16 efforts between six divers.
“We had divers in the finals of every event, we had divers in consolations and we had great platform experiences,” Huffman said. “We had three of the biggest conference teams here with Idaho, New Mexico State and Northern Colorado. It’s still early and people will get better throughout the year, but we showed really great results against the conference.”
NAU swimming & diving will take the Thanksgiving week off from competition before heading to Las Cruces, N.M. to face New Mexico State in a dual meet on Dec. 5.
