Junior diver Yu Zhou led the way for the Gophers by winning the 1-meter event, the 3-meter event and platform diving at the Georgia Tech Invite in Atlanta.

 

Zhou started things out for the team at the individual meet by winning the 1-meter event with 330.40 points on Thursday. Zhou kept her momentum rolling Friday on the second day of competition by winning the 3-meter event with 369.00 points. 

 

She finished off the weekend with her third event victory on Saturday. Zhou won the platform event with 360.30 points, over 70 points more then any other competitor. 

 

Junior Lexi Tenenbaum placed fifth in the 1-meter event with 291.25 points, just ahead of senior teammate Jessica Ramberg, who placed sixth in the event with 290.20 points. 

 

Tenenbaum finished in third place in the 3-meter event with 355.75 points. She capped her weekend off with a fifth-place finish in the platform event with 245.10 points.

 

“This weekend was a great opportunity to practice for the championship season,” Ramberg said. “The team was able to learn a lot from their performances and realize what needs to be improved in order to perform at our best.”

 

 

Junior Matt Barnard started his weekend at the Georgia Tech Invite off by scoring 407.15 points in the men’s 3-meter diving event — good enough for a first-place finish. 

 

Barnard finished in fifth place in the 1-meter event by scoring 318.35, and capped his weekend off with a seventh-place finish in platform diving with 323.75 points on the final day of competition.

 

“I’m relatively happy with my diving on springboard but pretty disappointed with tower,” Barnard said. “I think the team had ups and downs, but this meet was a great learning curve in the season, which we can benefit from when championship season rolls around.”

 

Senior Manny Pollard finished in seventh on Thursday in the 3-meter event with 334.65 points but stepped things up the next day by placing second in the 1-meter event. 

 

Pollard wrapped up his weekend on Saturday with another second-place finish, this time in the platform event, scoring 364.30 points.

 

Senior Dylan Zoe started his weekend off with a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter event, scoring 362.85 points. 

 

Zoe scored 315.85 points in the 1-meter event on the next day of competition for an eighth-place finish. He finished in fourth place with 358.05 points in the platform event on the final day of competition.

 

Freshman Alan LeBlang found his way into the finals on the first day of competition in the 3-meter event, taking ninth place with 325.15 points. 

 

“I think we generally did a great job, especially the [upperclassmen] divers. They stepped up and showed leadership,” head diving coach Wenbo Chen said. “Matt, Manny and Dylan and Alan the freshman did a great job.”