University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE DIVERS SET TO COMPETE AT GEORGIA DIVING INVITATIONAL
January 02, 2007 | Women's Swimming & Diving
Jan. 2, 2007
The Tennessee diving squad will start the new year at the Georgia Diving Invitational and Shootout at Gabrielson Natatorium in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday. The three-day competition will feature divers from 12 schools, six of which have swimming and diving teams ranked in the top-25 poll by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Tennessee will see one familiar face in No. 3 Auburn, which came to Knoxville on Nov. 10 and defeated the Lady Vols 203.5-143.5.
"This week will be an opportunity to see some high quality divers from around the country in a championship format which, at this point in the season, is invaluable for the team," Lady Vol Head Diving Coach Dave Parrington said. "We are looking forward to the three-day format, particularly with the platform diving on the third day."
Junior Lauren LeRoy will attempt to continue her successful season after earning a pair of NCAA Zone qualifying scores and first-place finishes from the one and three-meter boards at the Minnesota Invite Nov. 17-18. The Oshkosh, Wis., native has accumulated five NCAA Zone qualifying scores thus far this season.
Vicky Linnell is coming off one of the best performances of her junior campaign, as the Prospect, South Australia, product tallied 222.85 in UT's first platform diving competition of the season to rank third in Minnesota. In last year's Bulldog Diving Invitational, Linnell earned a runner-up spot from the platform.
Senior captain Brittany Fulmer (Maryville, Tenn.) and sophomore Staley McCartney (Knoxville, Tenn.) will round out the Lady Vol squad set to make the trip to Athens. Fulmer will try to repeat the one-meter win she earned last time she was in Gabrielson Natatorium when she scored a career-best 290.25. McCartney had a solid performance on day three of last year's Bulldog Diving Invitational when she placed ninth with a career-high 179.00 from the 10-meter platform.
The one-meter and three-meter preliminaries will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday morning, respectively, with the top 12 advancing to a 1:15 p.m. final. Each evening the top six divers from the finals will compete in a diving shootout to begin at 6 p.m. Platform diving is slated for an 11 a.m. start on Friday.
Participating Schools
Alabama
No. 3 Auburn
Drexel
No. 6 Georgia
Iowa State
Pittsburgh
No. 15 Penn State
New Mexico
No. 6 SMU
No. 16 Tennessee
No. 20 Virginia
Utah
