Helling Earns Podium Spot on Utah’s Final Day in Berkeley

Photo by: Axe Tang/Utah Athletics

Helling Earns Podium Spot on Utah’s Final Day in Berkeley

1/18/2025 4:22 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Grant takes fourth in women’s platform, Bernatsky places fifth in men’s competition

BERKELEY, Calif. – Jesco Helling earned a third-place finish in the men's platform competition to lead the way for the University of Utah diving team, as they competed on the third day of the Cal Diving Invitational at the Legends Aquatic Center in Berkeley, Calif.

"I'm really proud of how we competed both physically and mentally," said head diving coach Richard Marschner. "We gained a lot from this meet and it absolutely prepared us to do well at Big 12's, zones and NCAA's."

Saturday's festivities began with women's platform prelims, with a field of 29 divers giving way to eight in the final, including Utah's Kathryn Grant and Holly Waxman. The men's platform prelims started with 14 competitors and the list of those who pushed their way through to the final included Helling and fellow Ute Attila Bernatsky.

"Kat had a difficult prelim," said Marschner, "but stuck with it to make finals and then had a great final round while Holly was very consistent throughout and she made some very good adjustments that will help her score big later on. Attila had a very good event and even though he was just off getting his zone score, his trajectory continues to be on the up, so I'm really confident that he'll be peaking when it matters most."

Helling Takes Home a Bronze

Helling's solid showing on the tower started with him racking up 321.25 points in the prelims, good enough for third. He maintained that position in the final, finishing with a mark of 310.15, easily surpassing the NCAA Zones benchmark. Helling reached the finals in all three events during Utah's time in Berkeley and posted his highest finish of the week on Saturday.
Bernatsky started the day by averaging 48.28 points per dive in the prelims, which added up to a score of 289.65 that landed him in seventh and allowed him to join Helling in the final. He improved upon his mark in the prelims for a total of 296.15 in the final, moving him up to fifth. This marked the second time in three days the freshman from Winnipeg earned a finals spot, a feat he also accomplished in the one-meter on Thursday.

Grant, Waxman Surpass NCAA Zones Standards

Grant's 224.30 points in the preliminary round garnered her seventh-place, but she bumped that mark up to 268.10 in the final, thanks in part to a score 62.40 on her final dive of the day, a Back 2 1/2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twist Pike. Grant's hard work in the final sent her up the leaderboard into fourth.
Waxman concluded prelims a couple spots ahead of Grant, taking fifth with a mark of 237.00 that included a score of 54.60 on her Reverse 2 1/2 Somersault Tuck. The senior from Leeds, England remained consistent in the final, where her point total of 233.35 allowed her to maintain her hold on the No. 5 spot. Both Grant and Waxman's scores in the final bested the NCAA Zones benchmark.
Sydney Kowalski's 211.05 points landed her in 12th, while Callie Eaglestone took 17th and Sarah Kauffman placed 27th.

Looking Ahead
The Utes will finish a busy month of January by visiting SMU on Friday and Saturday, followed by a trip to Green River, Wyoming on Jan. 31 to take on Wyoming. Utah's next home meet will be a clash with BYU on Feb. 7 – 8.

Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UTAHswimdive | Instagram: @utahswimdive | Facebook: Facebook.com/UtahUtesSwimDive), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.