Dec. 16, 2010
BATON ROUGE, La. - Auburn juniors Anna Aguero and Vennie Dantin finish first and second, respectively, on the three-meter springboard at the end of day one of the LSU Diving Invitational Thursday night.
The LSU Diving Invitational runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the LSU Natatorium. The meet features three schools from the Southeastern Conference in LSU, Auburn and Alabama.
"It was a very strong first day for the team," head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "It was a solid showing today and a lot of things we've been working on are starting to develop. This meet features a competitive format in a friendly atmosphere and is a great way to close out the fall season."
Aguero captured the three-meter title with a season-best score of 327.90 after qualifying second in the preliminaries with 305.20 points. Dantin reached the finals with the preliminary-best score of 321.95 points and took second in the finals (310.90) to her teammate.
"Anna (Aguero) and Vennie (Dantin) put together solid lists today," Shaffer said. "Anna used a new dive and was very successful."
Four Tigers represented Auburn on the men's one-meter springboard competition. Sophomore Thad Ellis finished second in the event with 372.45 points, while qualifying first in the preliminaries (363.80). Redshirt senior Dan Mazzaferro took third (339.50), freshman John Santeiu IV was fourth (313.30) and junior Adam Godzinski was fifth (288.55).
"Thad (Ellis) was very consistent today and really strong," Shaffer said. "It was very encouraging to see all of the divers compete strongly."
Competition continues Friday at 11:30 a.m. with preliminaries in the men's three-meter springboard and women's one-meter springboard.