Stanford men’s diving saw all four of its team members qualify for the NCAA Championships at the Zone E Diving Championships earlier this week at the Northern Arizona Aquatic Complex.
This is the second time in a row that the entire squad has qualified, demonstrating the recurring strength of the Cardinal’s male diving cohort.
Pac-12 diver of the month, senior Bradley Christensen, came ahead of the pack in the 3-meter dive. He finished the final round with a 748.60 score. Christensen not only won the event, but did so by a solid margin, posting a difference of more than 16 points between himself and the runner-up, Dashiell Enos from USC.
Christensen also placed second in the 1-meter final round, notching a 713.90. The Stanford diver was one-upped by USC’s Henry Fusaro, who finished with a 719.05. The two divers were both way ahead of their competition, with Enos coming in third on the podium with a 694.50 score.
Junior Ted Miclau continued upon Stanford’s trajectory, ending up sixth for the 1-meter and boasting a 634.05 final score. Freshman Cameron Thatcher, who has already earned a reputation for himself despite being a newcomer, earned himself a ninth-place finish (621.50). These impressive conclusions to the competition allowed all three divers to make the NCAA A-cuts.
Christensen, Miclau and Thatcher were joined by junior Tarek Abdelghany, who rounded out a stellar Cardinal performance with an 11th-place finish that qualified him for the NCAA B-cut.
Thatcher, Miclau and Abdelghany all also managed to place in the high ranks for the 3-meter dive, placing eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively. This qualified all three competitors for the NCAA B-cut.
During the last day of the event, Miclau and Abdelghany represented the Cardinal in the platform diving. Abdelghany, who netted a first place victory at the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago, once again performed brilliantly, placing fifth and earning an A-cut. Miclau, who finished second in the Pac-12, outdid himself, capturing second place once again with a 766.60.
The team will be competing on 10 boards at the end of March in the NCAA Championships.
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Stanford women’s diving impressed as much as their male counterparts, as Kassidy Cook and Haley Farnsworth clinched spots on both the 1-meter and the 3-meter boards for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
Cook, a senior and a member of the 2016 USA Olympic Diving Team, finished third (653.75) in the 3-meter round on Monday. Fellow teammate Farnsworth attained the final automatic qualifying spot, placing ninth (598.15) in the 3-meter. Thus, much like the men’s team, the Cardinal saw all-around success instantaneously on the women’s side.
These achievements continued on Tuesday as the women prepared to compete in the 1-meter round of the event.
Cook once again established herself as one of the leading divers in the collegiate world, bagging a third-place finish (628.20) and officially qualifying in both events. Cook had been atop the podium just two weeks ago, having won the 1-meter event at the Pac-12 Championships. Freshman rookie Farnsworth also tallied a qualifying score (564.95) that put her in eighth place for the 1-meter.
The two women will be competing against an extremely tough lineup starting next Wednesday at the NCAA Championships.
Contact Laura Sussman at laura111 ‘at’ stanford.edu.