Aztecs Advance Five Divers to 3-Meter Finals at Lumberjack Invite
San Diego State showcased its trademark depth on Friday, as five Aztec competitors advanced to the finals of the 3-meter springboard event at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational in Flagstaff, Arizona.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – San Diego State showcased its trademark depth on Friday, as five Aztec competitors advanced to the finals of the 3-meter springboard event at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational inside Wall Aquatic Center on the campus of Northern Arizona University.
SDSU’s five divers were the most out of the eight schools that were represented in the final session.
Junior Isabella Gomez paced the Aztecs delegation with a fifth-place performance after amassing 567.75 points over two rounds. The New Mexico transfer compiled 292.90 points in the preliminaries to eclipse an NCAA zone qualifying standard (280 pts) but slipped two spots on the leaderboard in the finals.
In addition, fellow classmate Alina Skrocki was slotted ninth in the standings with an overall total of 514.80 points. The Flagstaff native improved her score in the finals with 260.65 points but was unable to gain ground on the leaders.
Elsewhere, sophomore Keira Kuderka landed in the 12th position with a two-round total of 500.70 points, highlighted by career-best score of 257.95 in the preliminary session, where she enjoyed an early eighth-place ranking.
Conversely, freshman Meja Palmer displayed upward mobility on Friday, climbing three places into the 14th spot with a combined 485.75 points, highlighted by a final-round tally of 247.65.
Rounding out the list of Aztec finalists was fellow classmate Sophia Hineline, who finished 17th with total of 459.45 points, featuring a score of 249.35 in the early session, where she was slotted 13th.
Northern Arizona’s Mackenna Stocker (602.30) easily outdistanced Arizona’s Zara Joy Ayazi (585.55) for the 3-meter crown, while Lumberjack sisters Margaret Wesche (584.20) and Grace Wesche (574.70) placed third and fourth, respectively.
The SDSU contingent also included Belen Cano, who just missed advancing to the finals by less than two points, after completing the preliminaries in the 20th position with 235.80 points, while Lucy Chavez (202.05) finished 30th.
The Lumberjack Diving Invitational concludes on Saturday for San Diego State with the preliminaries and finals of platform competition, beginning at 10:45 a.m. MT/9:45 a.m. PT.
The Aztecs are squaring off against divers from Northern Arizona, Arizona, Colorado Mesa, Idaho, New Mexico, New Mexico State and UNLV.