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WOMEN'S ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: JAN. 29-FEB. 4
Northern Arizona's Raquel Gonzales has been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Diver of the Week, respectively, for Jan. 29-Feb. 4.
Gonzales, a junior from Chandler, Ariz., won the platform event during NAU's Quad Diving Meet last Saturday featuring divers from NAU, New Mexico, Boise State and NM State. After qualifying third in the prelims with a score of 220.25, Gonzales improved her score in the finals to win with a total of 244.30. Her finals score was an NCAA Zone Qualifying mark, a career-best and was the second-best platform score in program history. She also placed fourth on the three-meter board with a score of 279.00.
OTHER ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES
Other women's diver nominees: NM State's Raina Brommer finished fourth in the platform event with a score of 203.65 and finished seventh in both the one-meter (240.45) and three-meter (263.25).
THIS WEEK IN WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING
NM STATE
The NM State women's diving team earned solid finishes following day one of the Northern Arizona Diving Invite on Friday afternoon after facing tough competitors from NAU, New Mexico and Boise State. Junior MacKinna Hauff garnered a score 260.05 to place fourth during the three-meter diving preliminaries. Raina Brommer (247.05) and Sheridan Decker (236.05) earned eighth and 11th-place finishes, respectively, to advance to the finals. Hauff went on to finish sixth overall for NM State at the conclusion of the three-meter diving finals with a score of 263.40. Brommer placed seventh after posting 263.25, while Decker closed out the group in 12th when she recorded a score of 216.25. In the one-meter preliminary event, Hauff nabbed a third-place finish with a score of 257.50. Brommer posted a 245.45 to place sixth, followed by Decker in 10th-place with a score of 228.70. The finals saw Brommer notch a seventh-place finish for the Aggies with a score of 240.45. Brommer led the way for NM State on the final day of the Northern Arizona Diving Invite as she posted a score of 203.65 during platform finals to notch a fourth-place finish. During platform preliminaries, Brommer recorded 221.95 to finish second out of 15 divers. MacKinna Hauffplaced 14th with a score of 148.80, while Lilia de Oliveira Pelaez rounded out the group in 15th with a score of 127.45.
NORTHERN ARIZONA
Juniors Tatiana Kurach and Christina Torrente swept the first day of NAU Quad Diving Meet, winning the 3-meter and 1-meter springboards respectively. The pair's wins highlighted an overall commanding performance by the Northern Arizona divers Friday in the Aquatic and Tennis Complex. Kurach entered the 3-meter finals with the top preliminary score of 312.00 and wound up holding on to the first position in the finals with a score of 303.35. Torrente, who placed second to Kurach on 3-meter, improved on her 1-meter preliminary score of 261.55 by a significant margin to claim first in the finals with a score of 297.15. Although Kurach and Torrente were the first-place finishers, they were far from the only Lumberjacks to post solid showings on the first of the two-day meet, which included competitors from Boise State, New Mexico and New Mexico State. The Lumberjacks placed five of their six divers in the finals on 3-meter. Kurach, Torrente, junior Raquel Gonzales and freshman Jenny Cheetham occupied four of the top five spots in Friday's opening event. Behind Kurach's finals score of 303.35, Torrente placed second with a score of 299.85. Gonzales, in her return from an injury, was fourth overall with a score of 279.00 and Cheetham placed fifth with a score of 279.00. Junior Olivia Payne finished ninth overall on 3-meter with a finals score of 249.05. Gonzales, Cheetham and Payne all improved on their prelims score. In the afternoon session, all four of the Lumberjack divers in the event - Gonzales and Cheetham were held out of the 1-meter competition - placed in the top 12 in the finals. Kurach qualified first, but was scratched one round into the finals leaving the door open for Torrente to pick up first-place honors. Torrente would oblige with a career-best score to complete the NAU sweep on the springboards. Payne scored a fifth-place 1-meter finish with a score of 247.85 in the finals while freshman Katie Conn, who was 15th overall earlier on 3-meter, finished 11th with a score of 217.15. In a triumphant return from injury, junior Raquel Gonzales lived up to her billing as Northern Arizona's top platform diver by winning the tower event on Saturday to close the NAU Quad Diving meet. Not only did Gonzales best the field of 15 divers from NAU, Boise State, New Mexico and New Mexico State, but she did so with the second-best platform performance in program history. After qualifying third in the prelims with a score of 220.25 - which was a season-best - Gonzales posted a huge score of 244.30 in the finals to claim first-place. Gonzales' performance only trails Gwen Smithberg's mark of 261.10 set in 2013 in the school record books. With her 10-meter exclusive list, Gonzales put the exclamation point on Saturday by recording 118.30 points on her final two dives alone on her way to an NCAA Zone qualifying score. Freshman Katie Conn and junior Christina Torrente also reached the finals with Conn being the next highest finisher in ninth overall. Conn totaled a finals score of 188.45 after notching a personal-best score of 191.20 in the preliminaries. Torrente garnered the 12th spot in finals with a score of 162.25. The Lumberjacks also received a career-best effort from junior Olivia Payne, who scored 198.60 in the preliminaries. Payne's score, which was right ahead of Torrente's prelim score of 196.75, was good for fifth. However, the Lumberjacks opted to hold Payne out of the finals.
WYOMING
The Wyoming divers wrapped up the final day of competition at the Cowboy Invite with a first-place finish in the men's platform on Saturday at Laramie High School. The first event of the day was the men's one-meter, the only event of the weekend without a UW diver claiming the top spot. Sophomore Scotia Mullin and junior Ryan Russi both made the final, but Russi posted Wyoming's best finish with a career-best mark of 294.25, placing fourth. Mullin scored a 287.75 to place sixth. Mullin and Russi bounced back on the platform, placing first and second, respectively. Mullin tallied a 334.80, with Russi claiming another personal-best score of 299.05. Freshman Elijah Chan also advanced to the final, and placed seventh with a score of 209.75.
CSCAA FALL 2017 SCHOLAR ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America has announced the 688 teams that have earned the distinction of Scholar All-America Team for the Fall 2017 semester. The teams represented 430 institutions from across all NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA Divisions.
For a team to be considered, it must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as defined by the institution. The team grade point average includes all eligible varsity student-athletes. The following are the Western Athletic Conference honorees:
Men's:
Grand Canyon (3.71)
Seattle U (3.22)
Women's:
Grand Canyon (3.72)
Idaho (3.45)
NM State (3.35)
Northern Arizona (3.46)
Northern Colorado (3.49)
Seattle U (3.59)
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2018 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship returns to Houston, Texas. Last year Air Force won its second straight WAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship while Northern Arizona took home the women's crown for the fourth straight year.