The final 2 days of the Texas Diving Invite saw ASU’s Mara Aiacoboae on top of the podium again after winning the women’s 10-meter. Texas senior Megan Houston grabbed gold in the women’s 3-meter on Friday. On the men’s side, Texas All-American Mark Anderson won both the 3-meter and 10-meter events. Full results can be found here.
Houston
AUSTIN, Texas – University of Houston junior Taylor Olanski took second place in the platform competition on the final day of the 2015 Texas Diving Invitational, held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center. The result was the second podium placement of the week for Bob Gunter’s squad
The reigning American Athletic Conference Diver of the Year, Olanski finished with a total score of 296.55 over five dives. Arizona State’s Mara Aiacoboae took the overall title with a score of 349.40, while Sofia Rauzi from Texas rounded out the podium with a total mark of 270.35.
Three of Olanski’s five dives were graded over 60. Her best effort, a Back 2 1/2 Somersault Pike, received a 68.15, while her final dive, a Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Tuck, was marked at 65.80.
Olanski is the second Houston diver to earn a podium placement at the Texas Invitational after sophomore Micaela Boutertook second in the 3-meter on Thursday. Senior Danielle Shedd also made finals in the 3-meter, earning seventh, while Bouter was Houston’s best performer in the 1-meter on Friday, placing eighth.
COUGARS TO HOST AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Houston will host the American Athletic Conference Championships for the first time as the best swimmers and divers in the league visit the CRWC from Feb. 17-20, 2016. Following the conference meet, the Cougars will look to close the season at the NCAA Championships, to be held March 17-19, 2016 in Atlanta.
All three Houston Divers earned All-American Athletic Conference status at last season’s American Championships, with Olanski winning the 3-meter and platform dives and Shedd capturing the 1-meter. Olanski qualified for the NCAA Championships for the second straight season and placed 17th in the platform.
North Texas:
Houston Invitational Day 3 Results 
| UT Diving Invitational Day 3 Results
DENTON — The North Texas swimmers and divers wrapped up their respective weekends on Saturday with the final day of competition at the Phill Hansel Invitational in Houston and the Texas Diving Invitational in Austin.
On the boards in Austin, competing on the platform boards for the first time this season, senior Jasmine Abercrombie finished in 17th place with a score of 166.75, followed by junior Samantha Scheck in 18th place with a score of 158.30.
“Over the past three days of competition, the divers have done well, fought through doubt, and recovered to finish strong,” diving coach Mark Murdock said. “My goal when bringing our divers here was to show them a next level competition, to bring them somewhere with top caliber athletes who have the determination and focus to reach their personal goals of becoming great divers.
“I believe that by bringing them to this invite it will help them understand what my ultimate goal for the team is and each of them individually.”
What’s Next
North Texas swimming and diving is off for about a month, before returning to the pool for the Incarnate Word Invitational on Friday, Dec. 18 in San Antonio.
Colorado State:
UT Diving Invitational – Live Results
AUSTIN/HOUSTON, Texas – The Colorado State swimming and diving squad finished its second day split across the University of Texas Diving Invitational and the Phill Hansel Invite in Houston on Friday.
At the UT Diving Invitational, Ariana Milone led CSU with a 16th-place result in the 1-Meter Springboard with a score of 247.65 in the prelims. The meet with close tomorrow with the platform diving event.
Woodard has been happy with the way his team has responded at both meets, and feels confident his group can build on their performances and finish strong tomorrow.
“We’ve been preparing for this all fall, with our early invitational event immediately after our dual against New Mexico,” Woodard said. “The hardest thing for most teams is to bounce back on the third day of a long meet, and from what I’ve seen I expect us to come out tomorrow and continue to get better.”
Texas:
Day 2-
Women:
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas senior Meghan Houston rallied from an early deficit and won the three-meter title on the final dive of the competition Friday evening in the UT Diving Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Houston captured her third straight one-meter title at the UT Diving Invite with 315.65 points. UT freshman Meghan O’Brien added a fifth-place total of 301.85 points.
Houston trailed by over 10 points through two of six rounds before methodically chipping away at the lead held by California’s Phoebe Lamay. The Austin native took the lead on her fifth dive, a reverse, one-and-a-half somersault that went for 54 points.
Houston put away a narrow victory over Lamay with the last of the competition’s 48 dives, a back one-and-a-half somersault that netted 51.75 points. Houston’s total of 315.65 was enough to top Lamay’s total of 313.25.
“Those first couple of dives weren’t quite my best, but the back one-and-a-half is one of my more reliable dives,” Houston said. “I knew it was pretty close. I told myself to relax and do that dive like I do in practice, and I knew it was going to be there.”
The Texas women wrap up the UT Diving Invite Saturday with the platform final round at 10 a.m. CT.
Men:
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas All-America junior Mark Anderson edged All-America teammate Cory Bowersox and claimed the three-meter title Friday evening on day two of the UT Diving Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Anderson, who won the platform title at the 2014 UT Diving Invite, won Friday’s three-meter finals with 458.15 points. Bowersox, Thursday’s runner-up on one-meter, took second on three-meter with 448.75 points while redshirt junior Sean O’Brien took fourth with 418.90 points.
“I don’t like to look at the leaderboard, but I knew it would be close toward the end,” Anderson said. “I thought about that for a second, but I just tried to relax and led by body dive.”
Anderson put together a strong list of six dives and saved his best for last. He totaled a meet-best 85.75 points on his reverse one-and-a-half somersault with three-and-a-half twists. Bowersox also finished strong and posted a meet-best 88.4 points on his final dive, an inward three-and-a-half somersault.
Notably, O’Brien earned a perfect score of 10 from one of the five judges on his third dive, a back two-and-a-half somersault that netted 82.5 points.
The UT Diving Invite concludes Saturday with the men’s platform finals at 1:45 p.m. CT.
Day 3-
Men:
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas All-America junior Mark Anderson led through most of the competition and handily claimed the platform title Saturday on the final day of the UT Diving Invite at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
Anderson, who won Friday’s three-meter competition, cruised to victory in the 11-man platform finals with 451.95 points and topped his nearest competitor by over 30 points. Anderson, a two-time All-American on platform, claimed his second UT Diving Invite platform title in as many years.
The 2015 Big 12 Conference Men’s Diver of the Year, Anderson totaled a meet-best 89.1 points on his fourth dive, a back three-and-a-half somersault that merited a perfect “10” from one of the five judges. He added an impressive 88.4 points on his fifth dive, a reverse three-and-a-half somersault.
Next up for the Texas divers is the USA Diving Winter National Championships meet set for Dec. 15-20 in Indianapolis. The Longhorns swimmers await the annual Texas Invitational (Dec. 2-5) at the Texas Swimming Center.
Swimming news courtesy of Texas, Houston, North Texas, and Colorado State Swimming & Diving.
