Gators excel at Tennessee Diving Invitational

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With 101 student-athletes competing from around the country, the University of Florida diving team placed in the men’s and women’s finals in all three diving events this past Monday through Wednesday at the 2011 Tennessee Diving Invitational at the Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn.

“I felt like we performed well,” head diving coach Donnie Craine said. “We had at least one diver reach the finals in each of the events, and had some really good dives. I look forward to getting back to work to begin training for the last month of the regular season as well as the conference meet in Gainesville in February. I think with what I saw from this meet, we’ll be just fine.”

Winning the women’s platform competition with a score of 263.60 was senior Monica Dodson. The lone senior on UF women’s swimming and diving team also registered the highest scores for the UF women on the one meter (11th place, 256.05) and three-meter (third place, 311.25) boards. Dodson was the only woman diver at the invite to finish in the top three in two of the three events.

Finishing third on the platform was junior Kaylee Doback, who finished with a score of 239.45.

On the men’s side, junior Anthony Lewark recorded the highest score with a seventh-place mark of 354.00 in the men’s three-meter finals. Lewark also finished 15th in the platform event, which saw senior Jonathan Speed finish 10th for the Gators’ best score from the tower (270.70). Speed also had UF’s top rank on the one-meter boards with a ninth-place score of 315.95.

The University of Florida men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams return to the pool this Friday, Jan. 7, as the Gators host Georgia Tech in UF’s first home dual meet since Oct. 11.