Petersen, Waxman Earn Spots at Nationals on Day Two of Zones

Tuesday, March 7

Federal Way, WA

All Day

University of Utah

NCAA Diving Zone E

Photo by: Chuck Arelei

Petersen, Waxman Earn Spots at Nationals on Day Two of Zones

3/7/2023 8:25 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Men's Results Women's Results

Both athletes for Utah diving to compete in multiple events at NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Holly Waxman clinched a spot at the NCAA Championships in the platform and Elias Petersen earned his place at nationals in both the 1m and 3m on day two of the NCAA Diving Zone E Championships, which are being held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

"Today was another excellent day for us as we punched another ticket to NCAAs with Elias' third place finish," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "He was very composed and consistent throughout the meet and ended up qualifying pretty comfortably. He's now able to dive both 1m and 3m at NCAAs and he'll be a threat to score in the top-16 as a freshman."

Petersen started the day by collecting 368.20 points in the 3m preliminary round, good enough to place him third and push him through to the final, where he would be joined by teammates Luke McDivitt and Jenner Pennock. McDivitt's score of 330.05 was good enough for 10th and Pennock ended prelims in 14th with 292.30 points.

In the final, Petersen posted a mark of 352.35 and that allowed him to maintain his spot in third. That performance not only secured his nationals spot in the 3m, but in the 1m as well. Petersen will have the opportunity to became the first freshman Utah diver to earn All-American status since Josiah Purss in 2013. McDivitt finished the final in 11th while Pennock improved his score to 304.85 and moved up to 13th.

Kathryn Grant recorded Utah's highest mark on the platform and was in seventh at the end of prelims with a score of 260.30. Just a few spots behind her with a point total of 253.35 was Waxman and both divers moved on the final.

Waxman improved her score to 254.1 in the final, a mark that kept her in 10^th place and made it official that she had qualified for nationals again. This is the second consecutive year Waxman has earned spots at nationals in multiple events as she earned a place at the NCAA Championships in the 3m on Monday.

Only by the narrowest of margins did Grant miss out on the chance to join her teammate on the platform at nationals. She racked up 256.25 points in the final, just over one point behind the eighth place finisher.

"Kathryn and Holly had an awesome day and it was agonizingly close for Kathryn as she just missed out on the final qualifying spot," said Marschner. "I personally thought she nailed her last dive to get in but she ended up just shy of 8th. I couldn't be more proud of the effort and performance she put forth today. We still have a great shot to get three more people into the meet tomorrow so we'll be out there laying it on the line. It'll be a fun day."

Looking Ahead
The list of events on the final day of zones includes the women's 1m and the men's platform.

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