Saturday, December 6, 2008

UW diving wraps up Texas Invite

AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Wyoming diving team performed well against top caliber opponents at the Texas Invitational, which began on Thursday and concluded on Saturday.

"The weekend as a whole was a great experience for our divers," said UW diving coach Ben Herdt. "It was highly competitive and on the first day we were a little jittery, but once we got our bearings together we performed a lot better."

The highlight on day one for the Cowboys came from sophomore Kyle Bogner, who made the final round on the one-meter board and finished eighth with a total of 310.7 points.

"For Kyle to score 300 in the preliminaries and the finals at a meet like this speaks well for him and his chances to defend his Mountain West championship," Herdt said.

The Cowgirls were up against tough competition on the three-meter board by facing numerous all-Americans and three divers that have won an NCAA championship in their careers. Stephanie Ortiz finished highest for UW in 17th place.

Day two resulted in senior Tyler Miller finishing seventh in men’s three-meter competition (303.9). For the women, Ortiz also finished seventh on the one-meter dives for the Cowgirls. Junior Emily Huth placed 12th out of a total of 31 divers.

Saturday, the Texas Invite ended with platform dives and two personal bests for UW divers. Miller led the way for the Cowboys and placed sixth with a total score of 263.35. Bogner had a personal best with a score of 257.70, while freshman Valentin Schwarz scored 203.05 at his first college platform event.

Huth led the way for the Cowgirls on the platform with a personal best score of 189.85 and finished 11th. Close behind was Ortiz in 12th place (180.70) and freshman Hillary Bohler was 13th (174.80).

"It is always hard for us on platform dives since we don’t have a tower to train from, but I am pleased with how we did today," Herdt said. "Overall It was a highly competitive weekend and it allowed our divers to have great experience to build off of ."

The UW swimming and diving team will be back in action Saturday as they host Denver University in Corbett Pool at 1 p.m.

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