ATHENS, Ga. — Three members of the LSU diving team participated in the University of Georgia Diving Invitational from Jan. 3-5 at the Ramsey Center in Athens, Ga.
Senior All-American Barb Gorst won the platform competition with a score of 407.45 in the finals and sophomore Jessica Wantz won the 3-meter with a finals score of 535.35. Gorst placed 24th in the 3-meter with a score of 448.75. Wantz placed ahead of two of the Southeastern Conference’s top divers in Alabama’s Lane Bassham and Tennessee’s Jamie Sanger, who finished second and fourth respectively.
Senior Kyle Van Arsdall placed third in the platform with a score of 456.85 and was 11th in the 1-meter event with a score of 536.85. Kentucky’s Clayton Moss won the event with a score of 666.25. Van Arsdall also made the finals of the 3-meter and placed eighth with a score of 502.00. Auburn’s Matt Bricker won the event with a score of 597.35.
Wantz and Gorst finished 16th and 17th in the 1-meter preliminaries while Bassham won the event with a score of 555.10. Ceasar Garcia of Auburn won the men’s platform with a score of 552.55.
“Overall this was an excellent competition for us and a good way to start the new year”, said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “This was a good preview for the SEC Championships next month because every SEC school with the exception of Arkansas was represented.”
Van Arsdall’s score in the 1-meter was a career-best mark and Wantz scored a personal-best in the 3-meter with a mark of 535.35. Her previous best score was 531.15 at the 2001 Nike Cup.
“We really had a lot of people have an excellent meet and we came away fairly healthy so it was a good indicator of what we can do at the SEC’s in February.”