Dec. 17, 2016
Scott Lazeroff finished second on the 1-meter and Pete Turnham placed third as action got underway at the 2016 Auburn Diving Invitational on Saturday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center. In the women's 3-meter competition, Alison Maillard earned a fourth-place finish and Maddie Cox a sixth-place finish.
"Overall it was a very good day for us," head coach Jeff Shaffer said. "We still have some work to do but I think we are getting closer to where I'd like us to be."
Lazeroff scored a 328.65 in the finals of the 1-meter to place second behind winner Juan Hernandez (397.50) of LSU. Lazeroff had scored a 335.25 in prelims to hold the top spot going into finals. That score was just below his season-high 1-meter score of 341.03 from the Alabama dual meet.
Turnham moved up from fifth to third with a finals score of 327.95. It marked his second top-three finish on the board this month as he won the 1-meter at the Georgia Invitational with a 314.20 on Dec. 1.
"Scott and Pete were real steady during the prelims and then they were very consistent in the finals," Shaffer said. "It is good to dive against the top divers in the conference at this time."
Justin Checchin took seventh in the consolation finals with a 228.70 after posting a 242.90 during prelims.
Maillard scored a 308.45 to finish fourth in the 3-meter finals, just under her season-best score of 314.35 from the Georgia Tech Invitational. She had earned her way into the finals with a prelims score of 280.30, which was eighth.
Cox finished sixth in the finals with a score of 291.70. She had scored a personal-best 329.55 during prelims, which was third.
Claire Schuermann won the consolation finals with a 278.95, which was just under her season-best of 280.25 from the Georgia Tech Invitational. She had scored a 266.85 during prelims to place 10th.
"Alison was a little off the mark this morning but managed to stay in eighth and she was better in finals, but we still have a way to go with her," Shaffer said. "Claire was a lot better with her back and reverse two-and-halfs in a meet situation, we just have to work on finishing her dives a little bit stronger."
Miranda Telmanik placed 19th with a score of 229.65.
"Not to make excuses but it's hard to come off finals and the mental drag of that," Shaffer said. "We were much better today than we were early in the week, so that's encouraging. That's the purpose in the way we set this meet up; instead of looking forward to going home, focus on competing and making corrections for a quality championship season."
The meet continues on Sunday with the men competing on the 3-meter and the women on 1-meter, with the women's final immediately following prelims, which start at 11 a.m., and the men's final set for 5 p.m.
Monday's platform will have just one session, which begins at 11 a.m.
Also competing at the meet are divers from Alabama, Florida State, LSU, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Live scoring is available through divemeets.com.