Southampton Invitational 2006
The Quays, Southampton
On the weekend 21st & 22nd October the Cambridge Dive Team travelled south to warmer waters to compete in the annual Southampton Invitational. This competition is one of the largest elite club events in the diving calendar with divers travelling from all over England, Scotland and Wales to compete on the platforms and the 1m & 3m springboards. The event is used as a tracking competition for all of the British Squad divers on the JTP (Junior Talent Programme), JOP (Junior Olympic Programme) and 2012 Squad.
Competing in his first level 4 elite national event, 10 year old Daniel Goodfellow represented the Cambridge Dive team on all three boards in the boys group D 10-11 years competition. Young Daniel faced divers on the national JTP squad who have recently competed in Europe and internationally for Great Britian. Daniel, who has recently been tested and successfully selected onto the Eastern Regional Talent Programme, scored an average of 25 points on every dive to finish 8th & 9th on the 1m & 3m springboards. Daniel's best event was the dreaded highboard platform event, he performed a fantastic inward one & a half somersaults scoring a massive 39.60 points to finish 7th just a couple of points outside the all important top six who compete for the medals in the final.
Also competing in his first level 4 national event, 12 year old Ben Sambrook competed on all three boards in the boys group C 12-13 years competition. Ben dived exceedingly well scoring an average of 25 points on every dive to finish 12th on all three boards in a strong field of 15 divers. Diving along side Ben was his friend and team mate Nathaniel Doza, Nathaniel's strength and experience helped him to score an average of 25 points per dive through the first 3 rounds but between 35 & 45 points on his more difficult dives. A brilliant inward double somersault scored 44 points in the final round of the highboard final so he finished 6th. His best result came in the springboard event where an impressive set of dives scoring between 35 & 40 points each took Nathaniel 3rd in the final and on to win the bronze medal.
In the boys group B 14-15 years events 14 year old Aaron Paul competed for the Cambridge Dive Team in his first Southampton Invitational. Aaron recently brought back a set of medals from the National level 3 Age Group Championships in Leeds but he has excitedly moved up into the level 4 elite category. Aaron dived tremendously well competing a complicated list in the 1m springboard event and went into the finals in 3rd place behind two JTP divers. A dropped first dive put the pressure on Aaron with all of the six finalists competing for medals but two solid dives scoring 36 & 38 points put Aaron onto the rostrum in 3rd place at the end of the final. At only 14 years of age Aaron was the youngest diver at the event to be using the extremely difficult back two and a half somersaults piked, but in the 3m springboard preliminary competition Aaron nailed it scoring 52 points on one dive putting him in the top qualifying position for the final. Aaron's exceedingly complicated list of dives are difficult to perfect but a fantastic inward two & a half somersaults in the final scored 56.70 points and put Aaron in second place to take home the silver medal at the end of the final.
Two other Cambridge Dive Team members diving in their first Southampton Invitational were sisters Lucy & Vivien Cliff. Vivien competed on all three boards in the girls group B 14-15 years competition, and did some splendid dives on the 1m and 3m springboard to finish 9th & 10th respectively. She was unlucky not to make the final in the highboard event averaging 25-35 points per dive and just missing out of the final finishing in 7th place. Sister Lucy dived her way into the final on all 3 boards in the girls group D 8-9 years competition. At the tender age of 9 Lucy had to compete some very complicated multiple somersault dives to make every final. Scoring over 25 points per dive on all of her dives in the finals Lucy finished in 6th, 5th and 6th on the 1m, 3m and highboard events respectively.
Sharnia Mockford is no stranger to these elite level competitions and this year the Southampton Invitation was one to remember. Sharnia used a selection of difficult dives and near perfect entries to bring home three medals from the events this year. Sharnia competed in the girls group C 12-13 years competition; in the highboard final Sharnia scored 6s on every dive making over 30 points per dive to put her in 3rd place and bronze medallist. Moving down to the springboard events and Sharnia gracefully dived into the final on the 3m springboard, a back twisting somersaulting dive and a difficult forward two and a half somersaults helped Sharnia win the bronze medal and secure her second medal of the competition. It was the 1m springboard where Sharnia took control scoring a massive 42 points on her inward one and a half somersaults and 39.90 points in her reverse one and a half somersaults to win the final of the 1m competition and bring back her first elite level gold medal.
Head coach James Etherington was delighted with the performance of all of the divers who competed this year and was looking forward to more diving success.
Posted 01/11/2006