FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Placing three in the top 11 in their first season appearance on platform, the Northern Arizona divers concluded the Lumberjack Diving Invitational on a high note on Sunday. Junior Tatiana Kurach posted the team's highest finish in sixth, giving her three top seven finishes throughout the weekend invite featuring seven other schools from the Pac-12, Mountain West and WAC.
 
"I don't think that they believe it, but the performances I saw on 1-meter, 3-meter and platform are exactly where I want to see them right now," said diving coach Nikki Huffman. "I see a lot of positives moving forward. I'm excited to see what they can do at the end of the year."
 
Kurach led the Lumberjacks for the third consecutive day, and in the process recorded a new career-best platform score of 215.25. She finished less than three and a half points out of fourth place.
 
Juniors Raquel Gonzales and Christina Torrente followed in 10th and 11th respectively. Gonzales and Torrente notched scores of 206.00 and 204.00 respectively, while junior Olivia Payne tallied a career-best score of 193.40 to place 17th.
 
Meanwhile, NAU's two freshmen – Jenny Cheetham and Katie Conn – not only competed on platform for the first time as Lumberjacks, but for the first times ever. Cheetham placed 21st and totaled a score of 169.10 and Conn was three spots back in 24th with a score of 147.90.
 
"Our two freshmen had their first platform meets ever, so obviously they had all new dives and they were solid," Huffman said. "Raquel was a little off, but she has a big 10-meter list that she needs to be able to train more. Christina, Tatiana and Olivia were on fire, but as a whole we didn't do well on handstands today, so that'll be our focus the next couple of days."
 
The divers will not compete again until NAU's next dual meet at San Diego on Dec. 16. A select group of swimmers will travel to the Texas Invitational from Nov. 30-Dec. 2.