At the conclusion of the prelims in the women’s 1 meter diving event, Georgia senior Laura Ryan sits in the top position with a 6-dive prelims score of 312.35. While those scores will be wiped in finals and the top 8 will start from scratch to determine a champion, that top spot for Ryan is huge for Georgia’s national title hopes – Ryan didn’t even score in this event at NCAA’s last year, when she finished in 20th place.
She’ll have a big challenge in finals, as everyone will ramp up their degrees of difficulty in tonight’s finals session, and watch out for Minnesota’s Maggie Keefer (the 8th seed with a score of 291.35) and Texas’ Maren Taylor (305.80 – 3rd in prelims) to make up ground, but getting a minimum of 11 points from this event from Ryan is important as Cal has no scorers.
Also diving well in the morning was Virginia Tech’s Kaylea Arnett with a score of 307.60. Thea Vock of Miami took 4th in 305.50, and UMass’ Michaela Butler, who had one of the tougher prelims dive lineups, is 5th in 292.25.
USC’s Haley Ishimatsu (293.75), Miami’s Kara McCormack (292.40), and Keefer round out the top 8.
In the Consolation Final. Tennessee’s Tori Lamp picked up the first points of the meet with a score of 303.85 to just eke past Purdue’s Michelle Cabassol for those 9 points on the final dive. Cabassol took 2nd in consols (10th overall) in 303.45.
Scores after the consolation final of the women’s 1-meter:
1. Tennessee 9
2. Purdue 7
3. Southern Illinois 6
4. Arizona State 5
5. Texas 4
6. Stanford 3
7. Illinois State 2
8. Alabama 1