2023 Air Force Diving Invitational
- Feb. 2-4, 2023
- Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Results
- Diving only
Winners
- Women’s 1-meter – Alyssa Clairmont, Texas A&M – 311.70
- Women’s 3-meter – Alyssa Clairmont, Texas A&M – 346.10
- Women’s Platform – Kathryn Grant, Utah – 248.20
- Men’s 1-meter – Victor Povzner, Texas A&M – 394.55
- Men’s 3-meter – Mickey Strauss, BYU – 411.05
- Men’s Platform – Carlo Lopez, Missouri – 354.60
DAY 1 RECAP
Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Texas A&M men’s and women’s diving teams started off strong on the first day of competition at the Air Force Diving Invitational Thursday, with a pair of first-place scores and advancing a combined eight Aggies to the finals.
Alyssa Clairmont and Victor Povzner led the Aggies as they both placed first in their respective springboard events. Clairmont earned her win in the first session of the day, scoring a 346.10 in the 3-meter final to register her ninth win of the season. Povzner posted a first-place score of 394.55 on the 1-meter and was immediately trailed by Allen Bottego coming in second with a score of 393.75.
Also impressing in finals on the women’s side were Joslyn Oakley coming in third with a score of 331.60 and Mayson Richards finishing sixth as she put up a 309.10.
Takuto Endo added a fourth-place score of 356.15 for the men. The Aggies added more top-10 scores with Shane Mardick finishing eighth (307.00) and Rhett Hensley coming in seventh (300.35).
Up Next
The Maroon & White return to action tomorrow morning as the women compete on the 1-meter at 11 a.m. and the men on the 3-meter at 4:30 p.m. Live results can be found here, and the meet will be live streamed here.
DAY 2 RECAP
Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Texas A&M men’s and women’s diving teams continued to dominate on day two of competition at the Air Force Diving Invitational Friday with the women earning four out of the top-five scores and advancing a combined seven Aggies to the finals.
With every Aggie on the women’s side advancing to finals on the 1-meter, they all went on to claim four of the top-five spots in the event. Alyssa Clairmont recorded her second first-place score of the invite and 10th of the season (311.70), followed by Mayson Richards in second (309.35). Joslyn Oakley and Payton Props claimed the fourth and fifth spots, scoring 297.25 and 291.50, respectively.
Takuto Endo led the Maroon & White on the 3-meter, finishing sixth with a score of 360.20. Placing top 10, Rhett Hensley finished eighth with a score of 343.95 and Victor Povzner came in ninth as he put up a 340.75.
Up Next
The Aggies return to action tomorrow morning as the women compete on the platform at 11 a.m. and the men at 2:15 p.m. Live results can be found here, and the meet will be live streamed here.
Courtesy: BYU Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo — Day two’s action of the Air Force Diving Invite saw BYU’s Mickey Strauss deliver a stellar performance in the 3-meter event, bringing home the individual win.
Following his fifth place finish in yesterday’s 1-meter final event, Strauss’s qualifying 335.90 in the prelim 3-meter dive Friday afternoon at the Cadet Natatorium was good enough to help him move onto the finals. It was in the final round where Strauss delivered a near personal-best and a season-best score for the senior diver in the event, a 411.05 first place finish that outlasted Denver’s Zyad Morsy and Utah’s Luke McDivitt.
Chase Hindmarsh, Cody Dreesen and Nathan Marshall also competed in Friday’s event, where each diver went on to finish in the top 25 out of the 36 participants in the prelim round. Hindmarsh would post a 303.95 to come in 13th place, with Dreesen scoring a season-best 288.90 for 20th place and Marshall finishing with a 280.05 for 22nd place.
On the women’s side, Sophia DeBergh and Brooklyn Larson were the lone participants in the 1-meter event Friday morning. Each diver would finish in the top 25 of the prelim round, with DeBergh posting a 217.60 to come in 19th place and Larson scoring a 215.60, good for 21st place.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will wrap up this weekends events competing in the platform dive tomorrow morning and afternoon. The first event Saturday, Feb. 4 will again begin at 10 a.m. MT. A recap of the results will be posted to the byucougars.com website at the conclusion of the day’s events. A live stream of the events will also be accessible on Air Force’s YouTube page beginning with the women’s platform event.
DAY 3 RECAP
Courtesy: Utah Athletics
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Kathryn Grant piled up 248.20 points to claim first-place in the women’s platform and Jenner Pennock and Luke McDivitt took second and third place on the men’s side for the University of Utah diving team on the final day of competition at the Air Force Invite, which was held on Saturday afternoon at the Cadet Natatorium.
“Kathryn polished off an incredible meet for us with her win on tower as we showed remarkable consistency as a team again,” said diving coach Richard Marschner. “Her tower will put her right in the thick of things for a podium at Pac-12’s and to fight for a spot at NCAA’s. She’s starting to peak at the right time and I think she’s going to have a very strong finish to the season.”
Grant’s phenomenal day started right from the jump, as she easily outpaced the field in the preliminary round with a score of 266.50, more than 20 points clear of second place and well above the NCAA Championship qualifying standard. Lexi Mills’ prelim score put her in 14th and Sydney Kowalski placed 20th.
In the final, Grant was no less successful and her performance put her almost seven full points ahead of Texas A&M’s Alyssa Clairmont for the top spot on the podium.
In the men’s competition, McDivitt got off to the fastest start with a mark of 360.50 that reached the NCAA qualifying requirement and put him in second, while Pennock’s 277.35 in the prelims secured 10th place and his own spot in the final. In that final, Pennock’s point total jumped up to 350.00, narrowly missing out on first and a new personal-best, but reaching the NCAA benchmark. McDivitt was right behind his teammate with a score of 346.75 that allowed him to grab third.
“Luke and Jenner battled hard on tower,” said Marschner, “and it was a close contest that came down to the final dive for the win. Luke actually won the 12-dive score again which is very encouraging for zones. Jenner nearly bested his PB in finals, so we’re trending in the right direction heading into Pac-12’s in a few weeks.”
Up Next
At the conclusion of this invite, only one meet will remain before the Utes head to the Pac-12 Championships and it consists of a visit to USC on Feb. 10.