Cambridge Dive Team amassed an amazing 13 medals at the East Region Club Championships held in Southend and were runners up in the team rankings. There were gold medals for Daisy Halls in the Women’s Platform, for Rufus Bord in the Boys 3m Springboard and for Platform synchro pair Charles Tibbatts and Bord. Cambridge had athletes entered in all the 1 and 3 metre springboard events and most divers also competed in the Platform events using the 5 and 7.5 metre boards.
In the senior events, for 14 years and above, Daisy Halls was the sole Cambridge women but showed the way with a stunning performance on platform highlighted by a high-scoring inward 1.5 somersaults to amass a total of 170.35, a comfortable 4-point cushion from the nearest rival. Daisy added to her medal tally with a silver on the 1 metre, again her inward 1.5 somersaults scoring highly and pushing her to within touching distance of another gold. In the 3m event she took 7th place and then teamed up with the Max Burnell of Cambridge for a Silver medal in the mixed-platform synchro events and a creditable 5th position on 1m synchro.
Cambridge boys dominated the junior events for under 14 years. Rufus Bord won his first gold on 3m with high-scoring polished forward 2.5 somersaults and twisting 1.5 somersaults to score 172 on 5 dives. Team-mates Charles Tibbatts and Ben Matthams were just outside the medals in 4th and 5th place respectively but gaining valuable points for the team total. Charles turned the tables in the platform event outscoring Rufus by 6 points to take the silver with Rufus in bronze medal position and Ben again just outside the medals in 4th. Rufus completed the full set of colours winning the silver on the 1m missing the gold by just 2 points for his 4th medal of the weekend. Again, team-mates Ben and Charles added valuable team points earning 4th and 5th place.
The junior girls also played a big part in securing team points with Amelia Aldridge picking up 3 medals. A silver on the 1m was almost a gold, just 2 points adrift despite a magnificent double front somersault as her last dive. Tobi Fayomi and Zia Gordon showed they are improving with every competition, finishing this one in 6th and 7th respectively. Amelia added a bronze when moving to the 3m board again supported by Tobi in 7th and Zia in 11th. Amelia made it a hattrick of medals with a bronze on platform too.
The highlight of the weekend for the Cambridge divers was the boy’s platform synchro event. Rufus and Charles joined forces and despite only forming their partnership a week ago they found perfect synchronicity. With all their dives scoring at least two 7s, they led from start to finish. The cheers from the rest of the team showed how important the win was to them all.
This was the best team performance since the inception of the championships in 2013 with a total of 116 points for second place behind the mighty Southend Diving. Head coach Alice Clarke had this to say about the weekend “overall for Cambridge it was a fantastic weekend. The divers have made leaps and bounds on last year’s performances at this event and hopefully the trajectory continues on its upwards path throughout the rest of the season.”
