On the weekend of 23rd and 24th April Cambridge Dive Team headed to Southend for the annual East Region Age Group competition. An important event in the calendar, this offered divers chance to qualify for the prestigious National Age Groups meet held in July. It also gave CDT divers a chance to practice some new dives in competition and show them off to the rest of the East Region.
Star of the event was Dominic Williams who managed a personal best, qualification to nationals and a medal in all his events. Dominic started the weekend with a silver medal in the Boys C 3m, a fantastic performance highlighted by a high scoring reverse one and a half somersaults, gaining 37 points. Following this up, Dominic also came home with an impressive bronze medal in the 1 metres event showcasing some great skills. After a long day of competing he ended on a fantastic high, earning a silver medal in the Boys C Platform event. It was in this competition that Dominic showed his highest scoring dive, and the highest scoring dive of the event, performing an inward one and a half tuck from the 5m, scoring just shy of 40 points.
Also competing in the Boys C events was Benjamin Matthams at his first Age Group event. Ben secured qualification for National Age Groups and improved with every event. Most impressively his clean entries in the platform series saw him win a bronze medal, just behind Dominic. Charles Tibbatts was also representing CDT and gained some valuable experience during his first season in this group. He showed off his fantastic rip entry and impressive flexibility in all events, most notably in his reverse dive pike on 3m, scoring 7’s!
Daisy Halls put in another impressive performance, starting her series strong with a bronze in the Girls B Platform event. This is where Daisy had her highest scoring dive, an inward one and a half pike on 5m – a difficult dive performed effortlessly for 44 points. Daisy earned a personal best and qualification score on all boards, where most notably she was 50 points over the qualification score on platform, putting her in a strong position for the Nationals event in July. In the Girls Group B 1m event, she secured an impressive score of 224.15, taking home a silver medal to add to her growing collection! To finish her meet Daisy competed her new dive in the 3m event, a front two and a half somersaults, earning herself a fourth place.
In the Girls Group C events, Zia Gordon and Tobi Fayomi showed consistent diving and gained themselves qualification scores on multiple boards, both also managing PB’s, and are headed to National Age Groups in July!
A big well done to all our divers and we look forward to seeing you all in action at Nationals!
Medals were awarded by Paul Kendall from Swim England East Region.
You can download a pdf of the competition report here.
