There weren’t any swimmers racing over the weekend, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t competition for Minnesota. The team hosted the Minnesota Diving Invite Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Divers from various universities participated, and most represented Big Ten programs.
Minnesota junior Morgan Justus finished second in the platform dive, earning a composite score of 235.80. Justus said she was pleased with her performance.
“I’ve been working really hard in the pool. It’s fun to see that pay off,” Justus said. “It was a really good learning experience to see what else I need to work on for other meets.”
Abigail Knapton of Nebraska finished first in the platform dive Saturday morning. Her composite score was 261.30. She also finished first in the three-meter dive on Friday night, earning a composite score of 330.35.
Junior Alan LeBlang finished seventh in the platform dive, earning a composite score of 322.10 for the men’s team. Ohio State’s Christo Law finished first, earning a composite score of 384.60.
“We don’t have a lot of chances to compete tower, so I was happy with my performance,” LeBlang said. “I have room for improvement, but I know what I need to do to improve.”
On Thursday night, sophomore Sarah Bacon finished first in the women’s one-meter dive, receiving a composite score of 334.05.
On Friday, LeBlang finished second in the men’s one-meter dive, receiving a composite score of 326.20. It was his best score of the season. Justus set a personal record in the women’s one-meter dive, earning a composite score of 310.65. Justus finished fourth in the one-meter dive.
The next major diving competition for Minnesota will be the Tennessee Diving Invitational, which starts Jan. 3 and University of Tennessee in Knoxville hosts the event.
Justus said she will make adjustments to her technique between now and January.
“I plan on getting the repetition in and making those fine-tune adjustments so that I can compete at an even higher level at the bigger meets to come,” Justus said.
Diving coach Wenbo Chen could not be reached to comment for this story.
