Petersen, McDivitt Finish Day Two in L.A. in Top 10

Saturday, January 14

Los Angeles, CA

All Day

University of Utah

UCLA Diving Invite

Photo by: Karen Hickey/ISI Photo

Petersen, McDivitt Finish Day Two in L.A. in Top 10

1/14/2023 5:38 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Men's Results Women's Results

Two Utes land in top 10 in men’s 3m at UCLA Diving Invite

LOS ANGELES – Elias Petersen and Luke McDivitt grabbed top 10 spots in the men's 3m final and Petersen put his name in the program record book in that event with his performance in the prelims as the University of Utah diving team competed on the second day of the UCLA Diving Invite on Saturday at the Spieker Aquatics Center.

"Today was probably the worst diving conditions in any meet I've experienced during my 13 seasons at Utah," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "It was cold and it was pretty miserable, but I'm proud of the team and the effort they put forth. It would have been very easy to fall into a trap of self-pity and give up, but no one did that and we even had some strong performances. This has been a gut check meet for us and we're proving to ourselves that we have it within us to push through and do great things."

Petersen got his day off to a great start with a score of 356.10 in the 3m prelims, 10^th-best all-time by a Ute and it also put him in sixth place and easily surpassed the NCAA Championship qualifying mark. Ben Smyth reached the NCAA benchmark as well in prelims with a total of 320.75 and Smyth and Petersen would be joined in the 3m finals by McDivitt and Jenner Pennock.

The women competed on the platform on Saturday and Holly Waxman had the best day for the Utes. She started by racking up 217.00 points in the prelims and finished with a score of 216.65 in the final, putting her in 11th. Kathryn Grant placed 16th in prelims, while Sydney Kowalski landed in 22nd and Lexi Mills finished 41st.

In the men's 3m final, Petersen's work earned him 345 points and a seventh-place finish. McDivitt improved from a 314.85 in prelims to a 335.25 in the final, which reached the NCAA qualifying standard and moved him up to 10th. Smyth ended the day in 12th and Pennock took 17th.

The men's team diving event originally scheduled for Saturday was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Looking Ahead
Sunday will be the final day of the UCLA Diving Invite.

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