2022 Lumberjack Diving Invite
- November 18-20, 2022
- Flagstaff, Ariz.
- Diving-only
- Results
Courtesy: NAU Athletics
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 18, 2022) — Northern Arizona University Diving opened up the first day of the Lumberjack Diving Invite with the 3-meter diving events.
31 women’s divers from NAU, University of California-Davis, Fresno State, University of Idaho, New Mexico State and Colorado Mesa began the 3-day invite with 3m preliminaries.
NAU took over the top of the scoreboard. Junior Maegan Jenson, who won the 3-meter final last year, was the highest-scorer for NAU in prelims, securing 274.85 points for a second-place finish. Jensen was followed by Mackenna Stocker in third (271.45) to round out the podium.
Six Lumberjacks finished in the top 8 to qualify for the 3-meter finals to end the day. Junior Victoria Knapp, freshman Margaret Wesche, sophomore Makenna Sammons and senior Emily Luberto filled the final event finishing by fifth through eighth in prelims.
Knapp and Luberto joined Jenson as Lumberjacks to make the 3m finals for the second year in a row.
“The fact that we had six of the top eight spots in the final is awesome,” NAU Head Diving Coach Nikki Kelsey said.
Freshman Grace Wesche missed out on the finals by one spot, finishing in ninth in prelims (237.90). With momentum from being the highest-scoring diver to make the consolation round, Wesche secured the victory in consolations by beating out New Mexico State’s Italia Ane Aranzabal De Pozo by just under eight points with a score of 234.90.
Sophomore Kendall Marquez was the second and final Lumberjack to participate in the consolation round, joining fellow Flagstaff native Grace Wesche. Marquez finished eighth in the round, securing a score of 196.80.
“We had two more in nine through 16 with Grace winning the consolation finals. That’s great.” Kelsey said. “Kendall snuck in there and she did a great job today. I was very proud of all of our team.”
NAU took three of the top 4 spots in the 3m finals that took place in the afternoon. UC Davis’s Sydney Wren matched her winning performance in the final (282.95). The trio of Sammons, Stocker and Knapp took second, third and fourth place respectively to bring in a strong overall performance from the host team.
“Victoria is back after a month of dealing with sickness, so the fact that she was in the hunt for a while was awesome,” Kelsey said. “Makenna Sammons’s final season performance was excellent.”
Margaret Wesche, Luberto and Jensen rounded out the final round sixth, seventh and eighth to round out the first day of the invite.
Day 2 of the Lumberjack Diving Invite will be tomorrow at the Wall Aquatic Center with the 1-meter diving events beginning at 10:30 a.m. MST.
“1 meter is actually a little tougher because they all are doing a lot closer to the same lists,” Kelsey said. “You don’t have as much time to make some corrections so we’re going to have to have our legs and our enthusiasm and get each other pumped up a little bit more tomorrow.”
