GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sophomore Hali Saucier and senior Jessica Wantz earned top-10 finishes in the women’s 3-meter competition to highlight the LSU diving team’s performance as the 2005 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships got underway from the University of Florida’s O’Connell Center here Friday.
Saucier, a native of Gig Harbor, Wash., placed seventh in the finals with a score of 445.20, while Wantz took eighth with a mark of 439.50. Kentucky’s Jessica Thompson took the top honors with a winning score of 480.60.
Both Saucier and Wantz qualified for the finals with impressive performances in the afternoon preliminaries. Wantz had the fifth-best mark in the afternoon with a score of 462.40. Saucier qualified with a score of 440.50.
In the men’s 1-meter, freshman Niko Dalman experienced his first SEC Championships and took 16th-place with a score of 267.15. Andrew Keane finished 21st, scoring a total of 229.65 points. Georgia’s Chris Cowill won the event with a mark of 378.90.
Championship action continues on Saturday at noon ET with the men’s 3-meter prelims. The women’s 1-meter competition will follow at 4 p.m. ET and conclude with finals’ sessions of both events at 6 p.m. ET.