San Diego State divers competed at the Air Force Diving Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last Friday and Saturday and the Aztecs had a diver finish in the top 10 in each of the three events with one diver managing to finish in the top 10 in two of those three.
The events for the meet included the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform dives.
Athletes from a dozen schools competed during the two-day competition. In addition to SDSU and host Air Force, other schools represented during the meet included Texas A&M University, University Wyoming, Boise State, UNLV, Colorado State, BYU, University New Mexico, New Mexico State, University of Utah and University of Northern Colorado.
The four divers representing SDSU were a cast of sophomores: Alexandra Caplan, Makena Chamoures, Nicole Dutton and Payton Gabris. Caplan and Chamoures were the two top-10 finishers for the Aztecs.
On Friday, Caplan led the Aztecs with a third-place finish on the 1-meter dive. She posted a score of 278.90 points in the 12-diver final round. Texas A&M sophomore Madison Hudkins won the event with a score of 310.50 points.
Caplan’s result in the final round came after posting a score of 283.55 points in the preliminary round, in which she finished in second place out of 49 competitors. As for SDSU’s other divers, Dutton finished in 14th place with 240.15 points, Gabris in 21st place with 232.90 points and Chamoures in 22nd place with 231.75 points.
On the platform on Friday, Chamoures was the Aztecs’ top finisher as she placed fourth with a score of 210.05 points. Her score marked the highest by an SDSU diver this season. Another Texas A&M Aggie, freshman Alais Kalonji, was the platform champion with a score of 284.20 points.
The rest of the SDSU divers competing on the platform were Gabris, who finished 11th with 199.35 points, Dutton, who finished 17th with 190.00 points and Caplan, who finished 20th 187.45 points. This was all out of a total of 41 divers.
Finally, in Saturday’s 3-meter dive, Caplan again advanced to the finals, where she placed eighth with a score of 285.05 points. Her score of 296.55 points in the preliminary round put her fifth of the 49 competitors heading into the finals. Hudkins ultimately captured another title in the 3-meter board with 343.05 points.
SDSU’s Chamoures finished in 13th place and missed advancing to the finals by 0.35 points. Additionally, Dutton placed 16th with 245.50 points while Gabris finished 26th with 235.35 points.
The stage is set for the Aztecs’ swimming and diving team as they prepare for the annual Mountain West Championships, which are scheduled to take place Feb. 17-20 at the Rec Center Natatorium at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
