Cambridge Dive Team took a squad of nine divers to Southend for the annual East Region Skills competition. This event is a qualifier for the National Skills Finals in July, held at the National Performance Centre in Leeds. The Skills competition follows a 12-dive circuit for divers in age Groups E – C and a 10 dive list over the 1m and 3m boards for the Group B divers.
The first event of the day was the Boys Group D event, in which Ryan Church represented Cambridge. Ryan performed at his best, with scores of 9s on his 1m skills and beat all the other competitors to take home the gold medal and achieve a total of 278.25. This was a personal best and above the qualifying score for the National Skills Finals in the summer.
The second event saw the Girls Group D take to the pool with three Cambridge divers competing. First was Karina Baxendale, putting in some consistent diving to score 234.55 and taking 6th place in the East Region. Next up was Sophia Howard who also dived well across the stations to secure a score of 262.95, taking the bronze medal and qualifying for a spot in the July finals. Our top performer though was Florence Tibbatts who put in a great set of dives scoring a total of 284.15. This was enough to take home the gold medal and also qualify spot in National Skills finals.
During the Girls Group C event, Cambridge had another three divers taking part. All the club’s girls scored highs of 8’s during the event and put in some consistent performances across the boards. Yuting Wang finished 17th with a score of 242.50, while Yuzu Baxendale placed 12th with a score of 253.25 and Daisy Maddocks-Hunt finishing 9th with a score of 258.85.
The final event of weekend was the Boys and Girls Group B event. First up for Cambridge was Eva Tsang in the Girls B Group, competing in her first major event at this level. Eva put in some really good dives; her highest scoring being a back dive piked from the 1m earning 8’s from the judges. Eva finished the event in 7th place with a qualifying score of 252.80, and will showcase her skills again at nationals. Simultaneously, William Tibbatts took part in the Boys B event. This meet was William’s first time competing these dives and he dived well scoring 26.60 points on one of his hardest dive – an inwards one and a half somersaults from the 3m. William finished the competition with a score of 224.10 taking home the gold medal!
A massive congratulations to all our divers, keep up the good work!
