Cyclones Sweep Top Spots Again on Platform at KU Dive Invite

Stats Link KU Dive Invite – Platform (5M) Results (.pdf)

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Iowa State’s Elyse Brouillette offered a little payback to teammate Julie Dickinson by rallying from a slight deficit after prelims on the five-meter platform to overtake her Cyclone teammate for the top spot on the final day of the KU Dive Invite in Robinson Natatorium. KU’s Graylyn Jones and Nadia Khechfe finished third and fourth, respectively, in Sunday’s platform finale.
 Nadia Khechfe
Brouillette, who led the one-meter competition by 2.1 points on Friday before being passed by Dickinson, logged her second event win of the weekend after also taking the three-meter crown Saturday when she rallied from an even slimmer margin on the weekend’s tallest launch pad. Dickinson led the five-diver field with 203.4 point after prelims, followed by Brouillette (202.95) and Jones (177.53), but a 219.75 by Brouillette in the finals gave her the leading mark at 422.7. Dickinson finished with 410.93 and Jones followed in third with 350.26.

For the second straight day, Khechfe improved from prelims to finals, scoring 165.23 on the first five dives before turning in 169.35 in the finals. She finished in fourth place with a total score of 334.58. Iowa State’s Maggie James tallied 225.45, but passed on the final dive of each session.

“The dives that we did were good,” Downey said of Kansas’ performance. “On three-meter, we had more new stuff, but today on tower it was more of a list we’ve done in the past and even watered it down a little for Nadia since she’s been sick. It was good that they were able to get straight up and down and get some decent scores from the judges, but it’s not as indicative of where we’ll be when we’re doing the dives we’re going to be doing closer to the conference meet. That’s part of the process and where we’re at in the season, overall not too bad.”

Brouillette nailed down the top score of either session when she scored a pair of 7.0s on an inward one-and-a-half pike, the fourth dive of her list in prelims, for a score of 50.4. Dickinson, in prelims, and Brouillette, in finals, also each turned in a 48.75 on their back one-and-a-half, one-and-a-half twist free dives during competition.

For Kansas, Jones found the most success on her first dive of each session, tallying a 47.85 in both prelims and finals on her forward one-and-a-half somersault, one twist free.

Downey, in his first full season as the Jayhawks’ diving coach, was pleased with the general outcome of his first time hosting a collegiate meet.

“We appreciate the group of teams we had in and had fun competing with them,” Downey said. “It’s always fun to have everyone into our facility and it gives us a nice little confidence boost. I think everyone went away happy with it and had a good meet. Overall, I think the girls were able to get out of the meet what they wanted to, and that’s what we care about most.”

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