This past weekend the University of Utah diving team hosted its first diving invitational of the season. The Utes faced Brigham Young University, University of Southern California and Airforce.
In the first day of action, Nathan Makarewicz scored a 361.00 in the three-meter dive, and Emma Ruchala placed third in the one-meter dive after receiving a score of 256.05. Also in the three-meter dive, Jenner Pennock came in seventh place with a score of 291.10, and Makenzie Caufield placed eighth in the same event, scoring a 232.05. Clare Greenlow earned a 232.20 score in the one-meter event, securing her a seventh place spot and a trip to the final round on Saturday.
Pennock’s personal best from this past diving invitational boosted his confidence with another strong performance at this invitational. On Saturday, Pennock placed fifth with a score of 302.25 in the one-meter dive during the finals and Daniel Theriault finished in 10th place with a score of 276.10.
Makarewicz was pleased with his performance in the finals, with a third overall finish and a score of 343.65 in the one-meter.
Looking ahead, Makarewicz wants to improve his diving consistency and continue to strengthen his preparation for future invitationals. He’s currently focused on challenging himself and competing at his best with new and improved dives.
“In practice, it was a lot about numbers instead of working drills,” Makarewicz said. “It was much more about getting our dives off that we’re going to be doing in the competition.”
For the women, Clare Greenlow scored a 263.35 to finish fifth overall in the three-meter dive, and Mackenzie Caufield finished right behind her with a personal best of 252.10.
Cuafield’s personal best made her even more motivated to continue improving her technique and become more confident in her performance. She was pleased with the team’s results, as well as head diving coach Richard Marschner. As the team continues to grow and the season progresses, Marschner is looking forward to seeing the squad stride towards its potential.
Utah will continue to work on refining its routines and adding dives to its list. Marchsner wants to see development from every diver, and he wants to watch the difficulty of their dives increase as the competition continues to get stronger.
“I think it was really good, we have a lot of really good invites coming up the next half of the season, so it was nice to get out and perform in our home pool,” Caufield said. “It was super fun to have a lot of the swimmers come and support us. It was amazing. Having the team here supporting us was the best part for me.”
The diving teams will be in action again on Friday, Jan. 12 at a three day invitational at UCLA.
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