COLORADO SPRINGS Colo. (Feb. 8, 2020) – Freshman
Melissa Mirafuentes closed out the Air Force Diving Invite with her second school record in the platform on Saturday morning.
Mirafuentes recorded a school record with a combined total of 296.00 in the preliminaries through five dives on the platform. She broke the previous mark held by her current teammate redshirt junior
Karla Contreras of 285.20 which was set in 2017. In the finals, she continued to dominate the weekend with a score of 287.80 to place first in the event.
Contreras was second in the prelims with a season-best score of 257.70 followed by
Abigail Zoromski with a season-best mark of 214.90. Sophomore
McKenna Houlihan had a mark of 179.50 while freshman
Makena Sanger finished with a career-best 129.90.
In the finals, Contreras placed second with her score of 257.70, while Zoromski was sixth with a mark of 207.90.
"I was really pleased with the team's performance this weekend," head diving coach
Ted Everett said. "We weren't perfect but we weren't making the big mistakes that can take you out either. Almost everyone had their best results of the season so far which shows that we are going in the right direction heading into the conference championships. The divers should feel confident going in and for me was the goal for the weekend. Melissa (Mirafuentes) breaking two school records in the process was icing on the cake."
For the Cowboys, freshman
Payton Lee finished fifth in the prelims with a career-mark best 271.75. He placed 12
th in the finals with a score of 229.30. Sophomore
Brendan Byrnes was in eighth place spot with a score of 263.45 after the first six dives. He would place third with a career-best score of 303.35 in the finals. It is also the fourth best score in school history. Junior
Elijah Chan recorded a mark of 225.45 to place 15
th in the prelims.
Byrnes was also solid in the Cup format finals in the 1-meter board from Friday. He finished second in the group B quarterfinals with a score of 280.85 to advance. In the semifinals, he would record a mark of 260.45 to place fourth in the group. Lee recorded a score of 269.10 in the group B quarterfinals, while Chan finished with a season-best mark of 280.65 to finish fourth in his group.
The Cowgirls will be back in the pool for the Mountain West Conference Championships in Minneapolis, Minn. while the men return to action on Wed., Feb. 26 at the WAC Championships in Houston, Texas.
