University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOL DIVERS OUT TO STRONG START AT GEORGIA INVITATIONAL
January 04, 2002 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Jan. 4, 2002
ATHENS, Ga.
The University of Tennessee women's diving team got 2002 off to a strong start with a dominating performance on the one-meter springboard on the first day of the Georgia Diving Invitational on Friday.
Junior All-American Jaime Sanger (Plymouth, Minn.) took the lead during the preliminaries with a score of 302.40 in the first round before sealing the victory with a mark of 289.30 in the finals. Right behind her, though, was freshman Lauryn McCalley (Moultrie, Ga.) who is returning to full action after an illness during the fall semester. She proved that she is on the road to recovery with a second-place finish in the finals with a score of 274.90. McCalley also finished second in the preliminaries with a tally of 280.10.
Sophomore Kylee Wells (Russiaville, Ind.) had one of her best performances of the year on the one-meter as she finished fifth overall with a total of 254.40 in the finals. Entering the finals, Wells was in seventh after a preliminary mark of 240.70 for the platform specialist. Sophomore Stacy Binyon (Southlake, Texas) also had a solid outing as she finished in a tie for 18th with a score of 186.55.
"I am very pleased with all of the diver's performances today," Tennessee diving coach Dave Parrington said. "I am especially happy with the results since we have been training extremely hard this week and everyone is tired. Overall, the consistency was good and Lauryn McCalley did well while still recovering from her illness."
The field for the Georgia Invitational includes competitors from Southeastern Conference foes Auburn, Georgia and Florida, along with teams from Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, Virginia and North Carolina State. More entrants were expected, but snowy weather in Georgia forced some teams to pull out of the competition.
The Georgia Diving Invitational continues through the weekend with the three-meter competition on Saturday and the platform on Sunday. A pair of Lady Vols, Wells and Sanger, will compete in a one-meter exhibition contest on Friday night.
