Armada Cup 2009
The Cambridge Dive Team celebrated its best ever result in the Armada Cup by diving to five gold medals, three silvers and a bronze. The small team of eight elite divers finished in fourth place in the team competition. This was an incredible feat considering most teams were made up of between fifteen and thirty divers.
A sickness-stricken Lucy Cliff summed up the Cambridge Dive Team's spirit in this competition by winning all three of her events and twice coming from second place after qualifying to claim the gold medal. In both her 1m and 3m events Lucy started well laying down some impressive scores for her easier required dives. However, she struggled with finding energy for her harder optional dives and found herself lying in second place after qualifying. But showing her willingness and drive to achieve Lucy upped her game in the finals and produced some very classy optional dives to twice snatch the gold medal away from the leading Crystal Palace diver. Lucy gave a solid all round performance and took her third gold medal in the Girls group C platform event where she was dominant throughout the competition and eased her way to victory by 20 points finishing on 192.00.
Not to be out done by his team mate, Daniel Goodfellow took two gold medals out of two and stamped his authority as one of the leading divers in his age group at national level. In the Boys group C 1m event Cambridge took first and second with Daniel Goodfellow and Sebastian Jaunzens scoring 215.15 and 192.45 respectively. Both boys performed the same list of dives in the finals and showed a superior form to the fellow competitors. Goodfellow also took gold in the 3m event where a closely fought final between the top six divers was narrowly clinched by Daniel on his last dive, an inward 2½ somersaults tucked, which left him in first place on a total of 222.05.
Matthew Roberts was the oldest member of the Cambridge Team at 16 and put in some sound performances in all three of his events. Matthew took silver on the 1m springboard with a total of 320.35 and scored a 6.5 average in the final. Matthew also took silver in one of the weekends most exciting finals, the Boys group A platform event. Matthew started well with a 3½ somersaults piked from the 10m but then finished slightly short on his second dive, and inward 3½ and half somersaults with tuck. For his final dive, Matthew performed his hardest dive, a back 2½ somersaults 1½ twists from the 10m platform and disappeared through the water for a 6.5 average. Matthew was just nudged out of first place by the last diver of the competition who nailed his back 2½ somersaults piked for 7.5s to beat Matthew by just four points.
The small team of divers from the Cambridge Dive Team also put up a fantastic fight against a couple of Olympians from the Plymouth diving club. Ben Sambrook had the surreal task of taking on British Diving's phenomenon Thomas Dayley in the Boys group B events. Ben being a true competitor was unfazed by the Dayley effect and put on a good show for a crowd that included the celebrity Justin Lee Collins who was there filming a piece for his new television show. In their 3m event Ben performed a consistent list that scored a 6 average to take the bronze medal behind Tom Dayley and Junior National Champion Jack Laugher. This fine performance was followed by Vivien Cliff who took down Olympian Tonia Couch in the Girls group A 1m event. Unfortunately Vivien just missed out on a place in the final finishing in eighth place but did finish one point above the Olympian. A great achievement.
Rounding up the weekend's competitions were the youngest competitors, Emma Watson and Martin Christensen. The strenuous schedule took its toll on the 10 year olds but their performances were to be commended. Both divers impressed and caught the eye of the Junior National selectors. Martin took fifth place in his 3m event while Emma came away with a couple of top ten finishes. The National coach said "although these divers may not have won the medals, they have shown good form and characteristics that are the foundations for very big things".
Both Sam Buck and Josh Karshen, the Club's head coaches, were delighted not only with the results but the manner in which the divers conducted themselves. Cambridge keeps on improving and is forever surprising the British Diving scene.
The Armada Cup team (left to right): Matthew Roberts, Daniel Goodfellow,
Ben Sambrook,
Sebastian Jaunzens, Lucy Cliff, Martin Christensen, Vivien Cliff.
Posted 20/3/2009