Petersen, Waxman Earn Top 10 Spots on Day One at UCLA Invite

Friday, January 13

Los Angeles, CA

All Day

University of Utah

UCLA Diving Invite

Pac-12 Diving Championships - Holly Waxman

Petersen, Waxman Earn Top 10 Spots on Day One at UCLA Invite

1/13/2023 6:32 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Men's Results Women's Results

Petersen takes sixth in 1m, Waxman places ninth in 3m

LOS ANGELES – Elias Petersen finished in sixth place in the men's 1m final and Holly Waxman took home ninth-place in the women's 3m championship to highlight the action for the University of Utah diving team on day one of the UCLA Diving Invitational, which took place at the Spieker Aquatic Center on Friday.

"Today was a really good day," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "Sometimes, your best efforts don't always produce your best results and I think that's where we're at in the season right now. We probably had one of our best efforts of the year coming off some really hard training coming back from break and with a lot going on with the start of school and at a really big meet. We had a really good effort and I'm happy with where our heads were even if the execution of everything wasn't perfect. Sometimes, its just getting to a good mental place and being able to get through adversity and I think we did that today. I'm happy with where we're at and looking forward to tomorrow."

The day started with prelims in both events and Waxman put up her team's highest score, finishing sixth with a mark of 288.95 and Lexi Mills earned a top 10 spot as well, taking 10th with point total of 275.40. Lizzy DeCecco joined Waxman and Mills in the 3m finals by grabbing the No. 15 spot with a performance that graded out at 254.60.

Petersen earned a top 10 spot in the prelims of the men's 1m, landing in sixth with a score of 314.45. Luke McDivitt took 13th with 289.95 points, Jenner Pennock placed 16th by piling up 271.75 points and Ben Smyth's total of 270.30 put him 18th. All four of these scores were good enough to put the divers through to the final.

In the women's 3m final, Waxman earned a score of 285.15 to push her overall total to 574.10. Her scores in prelims and finals both surpassed the NCAA Championship qualifying standard and garnered her ninth on the leaderboard. Mills improved to an even 280 in the 3m championship, which also reached the NCAA qualifying benchmark and put her in 11th, while DeCecco finished in 16th.

Petersen pushed his point total to 636.10 in the 3m final with a 321.65, his second NCAA qualifying mark of the day and enough to cement his spot in sixth. McDivitt had the second-best day for the Utah men, collecting 574.45 points to place 12th, one spot and just over two points ahead of Smyth in 13th, while Pennock placed 16th.

The Utes also found success in the women's team diving event that was held on Friday, taking third place in a field of 11 teams. Mills, Waxman and Kathryn Grant all contributed a pair of dives, with Mills handling the 5152 and 107b, Waxman performing the 303b and 405b and Grant being responsible for the 624b adn 203b

Looking Ahead
The Utes will be back on the boards for day two of the UCLA Diving Invite on Saturday.

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