FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona divers will travel south to Tucson this weekend for the three-day Wildcat Diving Invitational beginning Friday at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. The five Lumberjack divers will compete against divers from Boise State, Cal, BYU, New Mexico, Idaho, UNLV and New Mexico State as well as host Arizona at the always competitive invitational.

"My hope is that every time we compete, we are getting better and this is the time we want to feel good about what we're doing and competing well," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "All five of our divers are ready to step it up and see where they're at. On the other hand, we've been learning new dives and we use the Wildcat (Invitational) to try out platform, so they'll have to push through that. It's exciting to see the best divers in this region and see what we can do against them."

A total of 42 divers will compete during the three days in Tucson, and NAU's contingent will be led by junior Chelsea Jackson. Jackson has won three of the four diving events thus far in the dual meet season and currently owns the top 1-meter score in the WAC (283.43). The Flagstaff, Ariz. native is second on 3-meter with a season-best score of 300.30.

Jackson is not alone near the top of the Western Athletic Conference as sophomore Alexa Geiger and junior Carlye Townsend have performed exceptionally thus far this season. Geiger and Townsend are fifth and sixth respectively on both 1-meter and 3-meter. For Geiger, her top scores this season are 267.07 on 1-meter and 270.90 on 3-meter, while Townsend owns scores of 253.58 and 270.22 on 1- and 3-meter respectively.

Meanwhile, freshmen Emma Simmonds and Alyssa Loeffelman will be making their first career appearances at the Wildcat Diving Invitational.

Last season, Jackson was NAU's top overall diver in Tucson with three top 10 finishes highlighted by a seventh-place finish o the 3-meter springboard.

The invitational starts on Friday with 3-meter competition at 12 noon. Saturday's competition will consist of 1-meter diving once again starting at 12 noon. The Lumberjacks will wrap up the weekend competing on platform for the first time this season at 11 a.m.