Jan. 4, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. - Sophomore Dan Mazzaferro led Auburn in the second day of the Georgia Diving Invitational, finishing fifth on the men's 1-meter springboard.
Scoring a 315.35, Mazzaferro improved upon his 309.90 in preliminaries to lead the Tigers. Teammate Kelly Marx was right behind him, finishing sixth with a score of 310.55. Marx was fourth in the prelims with a score of 316.00.
"I'm really pleased with Dan and Kelly, they put together some solid 1-meter dives with zone-qualifying scores," said head coach Jeff Shaffer. "Yesterday we talked about objectives and making corrections and we are starting to make the corrections that will allow us to be even more successful."
For the duo, it was their second event in a row to finish in the top 10 of the 44-diver field. Marx led the team with a second-place finish on the 3-meter on Thursday while Mazzaferro followed in eighth.
Georgia's Chris Colwill earned his second win in as many days, taking the top spot on the 1-meter with a score of 381.40.
Also competing in the event for Auburn were Scott Morgan and Caleb Dunnichay, finishing 17th and 18th, respectively, in prelims. With the top 12 divers advancing to finals, the pair just missed out on advancing. Morgan posted a 258.65, trailing 12th-place Preston Holcombe (266.80) by eight points, while Dunnichay came in with a score of 252.65.
"Caleb and Scott were just a little bit off today," said Shaffer. "They have been training well; things just didn't fall for them in finishing dives. It is a learning experience, so we will take the good with the bad and make it all good in the next month or so."
On the women's 3-meter, newcomer Courtney Brown was the lone Auburn representative, finishing 39th in prelims with a score of 160.20.
Action in the Georgia Diving Invitational continues Saturday with the platform competition. Other teams competing at the three-day event are Georgia, Pitt, Purdue, LSU, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Drexel, Kentucky, SMU, Penn State, East Carolina and Arkansas.