Over the weekend, the Utah dive team headed to the Cadet Natatorium in Colorado Springs, where it competed in the two-day Air Force Diving Invitational.
Leading the way for the Utes was Jacob Crayne, who finished in first place overall in the platform diving event. On the women’s side, it was Amanda Casillas who was Utah’s top finisher with a runner-up finish in the three-meter event.
Prior to the meet, head diving coach Richard Marschner could sense that this would be a good outing for his team, especially for Casillas and Crayne.
“This has been a great meet for us the past several years against some quality competition from within our zone,” Marschner said. “The men’s team has won six of the nine events the past three years with Jacob Crayne accounting for three of those wins. Amanda Casillas has always fared well here too, as she set her personal best score on three-meter last year. We’re really hoping to qualify a few more athletes to NCAA Regional Zone at this meet as it is our last major event before we head into Pac-12s.”
On the first day of the invite, the women competed in the platform and one-meter events, while the men took part in the three-meter event.
In addition to her second-place finish in the three-meter event, Casillas finished second on the platform with a score of 262.20, while her teammates sophomores Nicole Ford (201.80) and Lauren Hall (197.70) took 10th and 12th, respectively.
In the one-meter event, sophomore Makenzie Caufield finished 28th with a score of 215.10 while her teammate freshman Olivia Payne finished in 42nd.
For the other men’s events, senior Crayne competed in the three-meter event, finishing fifth with a score of 348.50. Freshmen Connor Cain and Daniel Theriault also competed in this event, with Cain taking seventh (336.00) and Theriault taking 12th (286.35).
On the second day of the invite, the events switched for the competitors, as the women competed in the three-meter event while the men took on the platform and one-meter events.
For the women, Casillas took second again in the three-meter dive, finishing with 312.00 points, as Hall finished ninth with a score of 278.70.
For the men, Crayne was the only Ute diver to finish first, taking the platform event with a score of 339.15. Theriault finished close behind Crayne with third (303.00) as Cain also finished in the top-10 (240.30).
Crayne and Cain also competed in the one-meter event, with Crayne taking fifth (318.15) and Cain finishing 12th (240.20).
Up next for the Utes, both the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams will have Senior Days with the women hosting Washington State on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. MST. The men’s team will be hosting USC on Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. MST.
These meets will mark the end of the team’s dual-meet season before they head off to the Pac-12 Championships.
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