FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 17, 2023) – In head diving coach Nikki Kelsey's 28 seasons at Northern Arizona, she has never had seven divers take up the eight spots in the finals until Friday afternoon at Wall Aquatic Center during day one of the Lumberjack Diving Invite.
"We have never done anything like that before," Kelsey said. "Everyone scored higher in the finals, even though we didn't win. Whenever we can get all of them into the final, it is simply awesome. I can't ask for anything more than that, and I would love to say that we could get close to that again tomorrow, so we'll hope for the best."
On the women's side, the first day of the Lumberjack Diving Invite saw eight teams compete against one another, performing six 1-meter dives, with the best eight scores in preliminaries advancing to the final stage.
Senior Maegan Jensen's 265 points in the preliminary was the best score of the 31 divers and was the lone diver in preliminaries to have an NCAA Championships qualifying score.
Three straight Lumberjacks followed Jensen in the top four of preliminaries, including the reigning WAC Diver of the Week in senior Victoria Knapp in second, sophomore Mackenna Stocker in third and senior Reaney Preston in fourth.
The sixth through eighth spots were occupied by sophomores Grace Wesche and Margaret Wesche and junior Kendall Marquez, respectively.
In the 1-meter finals, despite the improvement across the board from preliminary scores, Alice English of New Mexico took home the top honors in the championship round, scoring 289.30 points, 4.25 more than Knapp.
Day two of the Lumberjack Diving Invite will begin Saturday morning with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. The women will switch boards and compete in the 3-meter contest.
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