Swimming and Diving

Aztec Divers Prepare for Bruin Invitational

A delegation of seven San Diego State student-athletes will travel up the freeway this weekend to compete in the Bruin Diving Invitational, Jan. 9-11, at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA in Westwood, California.

Aztec Divers Prepare for Bruin InvitationalAztec Divers Prepare for Bruin Invitational
Derrick Tuskan/SDSU Athletics

SAN DIEGO – A delegation of seven San Diego State student-athletes will travel up the freeway this weekend to compete in the Bruin Diving Invitational, Jan. 9-11, at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA in Westwood, California.

Along with the host Bruins, the Aztecs are scheduled to face divers from the likes of California Baptist, Hawai’i, Idaho, Iowa, Northern Arizona, Pepperdine, UNLV, USC and Utah.

The preliminary session on all three days is set to commence at 10:30 a.m. PT, and admission is free.

The SDSU contingent includes Lucy Chavez, Isabella Gomez, Sophia Hineline, Keira Kuderka, Meja Palmer and Alina Skrocki, along with Belen Cano, a midseason addition who hails from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. All seven divers are pegged for the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, as well as platform competition.

This weekend's Bruin Diving Invitational commences on Friday with the preliminaries and finals of the women's 1-meter springboard, along with the women's team diving finals.

Additionally, Saturday's slate features the preliminaries and finals of the women's 3-meter springboard, before the invitational concludes on Sunday with another two rounds of the women's platform event.

Earlier in the fall, Skrocki and Gomez recorded season bests in all three events at the Lumberjack Invitational in Flagstaff, Arizona, Nov. 20-22, surpassing NCAA zone qualifying standards in the process.

During the preliminaries of platform competition, Skrocki posted a career-high score of 291.05, which ranks third in school history, before winning the event with a total of 279.15 points. Meanwhile, Gomez placed third in the event with 275.80 points, which is slotted fifth on the program’s all-time charts.

In addition, Gomez set the team’s highest marks of the season on the 3-meter (315.35) and 1-meter boards (279.05) at the Lumberjack Invite, placing third and fifth, respectively, while Kuderka eclipsed an NCAA zone qualifying score from the platform height with a seventh-place total of 225.35 in her initial collegiate appearance in the event.

More recently, Palmer logged an NCAA zone qualifying score of 271.35 to win the 1-meter board in a double dual meet sweep of Vanderbilt and USD on Jan. 2.

Following this weekend's excursion, the San Diego State swim and dive program reconvenes with a full squad for its final dual meet of the season when it battles the University of San Diego once again on Friday, Jan. 23 at Aztec Aquaplex. First swim is set for 10 a.m. PT, and admission is free.