Courtesy: Auburn Athletics
AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn divers wrapped up the Auburn Diving Invitational on Saturday, finishing the fall season with six events over four days. In a field featuring three other SEC teams, the Tigers had a diver finish top three in four of the six events.
“I was really pleased and proud of everyone’s performance and where we’re headed,” Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “I think now we’re into a much-needed rest period to regroup for the championships part of our season. They had the opportunity to compete against some SEC competition that they’re going to see in February.”
Senior Conner Pruitt led the way on the men’s side with a pair of top three finishes. Pruitt only competed on the two springboard events but finished second on 1-meter with a score of 366.10 in finals and third on 3-meter with 405.55 points in the final.
Pruitt’s total of 406.95 in the 3-meter prelims was a new season best.
“I thought Conner was really solid on two strong (3-meter) lists,” Shaffer said. “The level of competition on the men’s side was exactly what we needed to see where we are both within the conference and nationally. I’m real proud of him stepping up and doing that.”
Freshman Whit Andrus set a personal best with 346.35 in the 3-meter finals to place sixth overall. Andrus also took sixth on platform, one spot behind Hunter Kebler who earned an NCAA Zone qualifying score with 312.35 on platform.
The Auburn women finished Friday with a strong performance across the board on platform. Sophomore Gretchen Wensuc set a new season best, 270.80, to place second while freshman Abigail Farrar (254.30) and Ashlynn Sullivan (226.10) finished sixth and seventh respectively in the final. All three divers made Zone scores.
“I was real proud of the women,” Shaffer said. “What a great performance from everybody. It’s a nice way for them to finish our fall season with a really strong performance to give them confidence as we get ready for our championship part of the season.”
Wensuc also earned her Zone score on 3-meter with 283.20 in prelims.
Sullivan finished second on 3-meter after back-to-back lists over 300 in prelims and finals. She scored 308.20 in prelims and then followed that with 303.60 points in the finals. The junior notched a season best on 1-meter with a score of 267.10 in prelims.
Sophomore Maia Goldstein made her 2021-22 season debut this week and finished a team best eighth in the 1-meter event. She also competed on 3-meter.
The divers will return in 2022 with the Tennessee Diving Invitational on Jan. 3-6. The whole team will be back in the pool Jan. 8 for a home dual meet against Georgia Tech.
