Grant, McDivitt, Waxman Lock Up Spots at NCAAs for Utah Diving

Wednesday, March 8

Federal Way, WA

All Day

University of Utah

NCAA Diving Zone E

Photo by: Chuck Arelei

Grant, McDivitt, Waxman Lock Up Spots at NCAAs for Utah Diving

3/8/2023 9:39 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Utah finishes zones with four athletes heading to NCAA Championships

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – Kathryn Grant and Luke McDivitt used the final day of the NCAA Diving Zone E Championships to clinch spots at the NCAA Championships and Holly Waxman snagged a place at nationals in a third different event on Wednesday for the University of Utah swimming and diving team at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.

"Wow, we can finally exhale after a thrilling final day here," said diving coach Richard Marschner. "I can't over emphasize how difficult it is to grind through this meet and qualify for NCAAs. Our team was a focused and determined as I've ever seen and it showed in the results.

"Kathryn and Luke both needed a big performance today to qualify on day three and they both came through big time. Kathryn set a new PB in finals, which is nearly impossible to do at zones when the judging is so tight. She never flinched and was just lights out today and this qualifies her on 1m and tower."

Grant's score in prelims was 284.75, putting her in seventh, while Waxman's total of 281.40 put her one spot behind her teammate and netted spots in the final for both competitors.

In that final, Grant put together a performance that earned her 297.60 points, a personal best that pushed her up into fifth and punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships. That mark improved on a personal best that was already eighth all-time and will go into the record book as the only score in the women's 1m top 10 accomplished at zones.

Waxman also improved on her prelims performance, piling up 296.65 points to move up into sixth and collected a spot the NCAA Championships for the third straight day. No Utah diver has ever been named an All-American in three events in the same season, but Waxman will have the chance to become the first Ute to accomplish that feat.

McDivitt attained All-American status in the platform in 2020 and after the effort he put forth on Wednesday, he'll have the chance to repeat that achievement. He started off strong by putting up a score of 311.05 in the prelims, allowing him to finish the round in sixth and he was even better in the final. McDivitt's mark in the final of 335.65 sent him up the leaderboard into third and ensured he'd once again be competing at the NCAA Championships.

Participating in their final meets for the Utes were Lizzy DeCecco and Jenner Pennock and DeCecco was able to put together a score of 249.70 in the 1m to place 20th, while Pennock earned a spot in the platform final and logged 593.35 total points to take home 11th.

"Luke had a couple hiccups in the competition but he trusted himself and didn't let a couple misses take him out of the meet," said Marschner. "It was really nice to see Jenner and Lizzy have a solid final collegiate competition. Those two helped set the foundation that our program is building upon and I couldn't be prouder of them."

Looking Ahead

The will now turn their attention to the Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which are set for March 15-18 in Knoxville, Tenn.

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