Wes Salonen

Women's Swimming & Diving February 23, 2021 Katie Rapp, NAU Athletic Communications

NAU Diving Looks to Land Eighth Straight WAC Championships Title

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 23, 2021) – After swimming's strong performance at the Western Athletic Conference Championships last week, diving is looking forward to securing the championships trophy this weekend during the diving portion of the meet in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The swimmers in St. George, Utah, competed in the first week of the WAC Championships. The Lumberjacks ended on top, tallying a total of 572.5 points over the four day series. As they hung up their racing goggles for the rest of the season, the 'Jacks saw various levels of success with breaking their own lifetime best records and one school record.

Last weekend, Northern Arizona posted eight-first place finishes along with six top-five placements in 18 total swimming events. In addition, Hope Williams secured her third-straight 100 breaststroke gold medal, breaking the NAU record in the event with a time of 1:01.14.

With how well the swimmers set up the divers for this week, NAU will look to earn their eighth straight victory in the conference. The divers for Northern Arizona show talent across the various boards, receiving Diver of the Week nominations as well as earning NCAA Zone qualifying scores.

Maegen Jensen, Victoria Knapp, Emily Luberto, Aly Jones and Reaney Preston will all be representing the Blue & Gold this weekend in the Wall Aquatic Center from Feb. 25-28. This is the second time both Luberto and Jones will dive for NAU at WAC, while Jensen, Knapp and Preston will be making their WAC Championships debuts.

Northern Arizona has received three diver of the week honors from the Western Athletic Conference, including two titles for the freshman, Knapp. The conference announced her recognition on Jan. 26 after her performances against conference opponent, Grand Canyon, and then again a week later on Feb. 9 in a dual-diving meet against San Diego State and Idaho.

Against GCU on Jan. 23, NAU swept the Lopes on both the 1 and 3-meter springboards, earning the top-three spots on the podiums. On both levels, Knapp earned a first-place finish, with Jensen and Jones taking up the second and third positions.

Knapp has seen nothing but improvement in her dives. Her first zone qualifying scores, recorded on Jan. 23 for the 1-meter, grew from 279.80 to 285.65, the score found on Feb. 5. On the three, Knapp refined her original entry by more than 17 points (301.05 on 1/23/21; 319.10 on 2/5/21).

Additionally, three of head diving coach Nikki Huffman's divers have qualified for the NCAA Zone E Championships occurring at the Wall Aquatic Center March 8-10. Knapp, Jensen and Jones all qualified for the 1-meter dive, while Jensen and Knapp also earned the minimum score on the 3-meter.

As the current first-place seed with 572.5 points, the Lumberjacks look solid in finishing up the three-day diving portion of the WAC Championships, hoping to secure their eighth straight title.

Each day, the prelims will begin at 10:30 a.m. with finals taking place at 6:30 p.m. MST. Both men's and women's diving will be competing at the Wall Aquatic Center in Flagstaff, Ariz. all three days. While there is no fan attendance allowed, the championships will be livestreamed on facebook.com/NAUSwimmingDiving with live stats available on divemeets.com.

WAC Diving Championships Schedule
Thursday
Men's 1-Meter
10:30 a.m. – Prelims

Women's 3-Meter
2:00 p.m. – Prelims

6:30 p.m.-Men's 1-Meter Final
7:30 p.m.-Women's 3-Meter Final

Friday
Women's 1-Meter
10:30 a.m. – Prelims

Men's 3-Meter
2:40 p.m. – Prelims

6:30 p.m.-Women's 1-Meter Final
7:30 p.m.-Men's 3-Meter Final

Saturday
Men's Platform.
10:30 a.m. – Men's Platform prelims

Women's Platform
2:00 p.m. – Women's Platform prelims

6:15 p.m.-Men's Platform Final
7:30 p.m.-Women's Platform Final

2021 WAC Championships Day 4 Scores

Northern Arizona: 572.5
New Mexico State: 564
Northern Colorado: 497.5
Grand Canyon: 444
California Baptist: 367
Idaho: 335
Dixie State: 250
Seattle University: 165