PROVO -- Once again the BYU Men swept a diverse diving invite, this time their own. After sweeping the USC Invite early in the month of November against the likes of Stanford, the BYU diving team once again showed what head coach Keith Russell calls, "The best diving team ever assembled in BYU history."
All-American Justin Wilcock led the way, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter events over many of his own teammates. He scored a 338.55 in the 1-meter, just three points higher than freshman teammate Andy Bradley. Bradley was followed by only three points by teammate Aaron Russell in third. Senior Viraj Patil was fourth as BYU scored five out of the first six spots.
"I did much better Friday afternoon in the 1-meter finals than in the preliminaries", said Wilcock. "I did well in the 3-meter which is my stronger event and look to make it the the NCAAs again."
Wilcock won the 3-meter final with a score of 373.5, a 35 point margin of victory over second place teammate Bradley. Russell finished third while sophomore Justin Beardall dove to a fourth place finish. Again, five out of the first six spots go to the Cougars.
Russell won the platform event with a a score of 216.85. Oscar Delgado from Wyoming came in second place. BYU placed third through six with Wilcock, Beardall, Bradley, and Patil, respectively.
On the women's side, five-time MWC diver of the week Kelli Einfeldt won the 3-meter final with a score of 443.5. She was followed by Becca Barras and Tracey Berghian from the University of New Mexico. Berghian won the platform event with a score of 190.45 with Einfedlt coming in fourth.
"The 3-meter felt awesome", said Einfeldt. "I'm becoming more consistent all-around and am enjoying this season. I want to make it to the NCAAs."
Kate Oiness of Nevada won the 1-meter event followed by Barras of New Mexico. Einfeldt finished sixth with teammate Tessa Clark coming in 10th place.
"I felt that our divers did very well overall", said coach Russell. "I also felt we learned much - maybe too much. It was a great look-see for our Conference Championships."
PROVO, Utah (November 27, 2001) The BYU men's and women's diving teams will host the annual BYU Invite Friday and Saturday in the Richards Building Pool. The men's and women's swimming teams will travel to Long Beach, California for the annual Speedo Cup from Thursday through Saturday.
The annual BYU Invite will feature top divers from New Mexico, Fresno State, UNLV, Nevada, Colorado State, Air Force, Utah, and BYU. The Cougars will feature their big three: All-American juniors Justin Wilcock and Aaron Russell with newcomer freshman Andy Bradley, the MWC Diver of the Week. In their last diving invitational at USC, Russell won the 3-meter, Wilcock won the platform event, and Bradley won the 1-meter to complete the sweep.
"This is a great chance to come and watch most of the conference," said head diving coach Keith Russell. "This will give our divers an opportunity to try out some new dives and build confidence."
The women's team is 3-1 after losing to Pacific two weeks ago. The men's team is 3-0 in dual meets after defeating Pacific. They have won 19 straight dual meets, dating back to the 1999-2000 season. There were no competitions this past week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
"We look forward to swimming our best times of the season so far," said women's head swim coach Stan Crump . "We will face some great competition against southern California universities and will enjoy swimming at sea level."
