Dec. 19, 2017
Scott Lazeroff finished off the 2017 Auburn Diving Invitational with a season-best score to win the platform title on the final day of competition before the holiday break.
Lazeroff, a junior, scored a 398.95 to top runner-up Matthew Phillips of LSU by 20.75 points.
"To end with a win at your own invitational is very important and Scott did a much better job," Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "I thought his improvements from the tower to the water are starting to be a lot more consistent. The one area he still needs to focus on is being cleaner on his entries, which would consistently get him over 400 (points). Anytime you are 400 or better you are in the hunt for good things at the conference and NCAA level."
In the rest of the men's platform competition, Pete Turnham scored a 303.80 to give him a fourth finish on top of his second-place finishes on each of the springboards.
Logan Andrews obliterated his previous season-best score of 244.10 by scoring a 302.55 to finish in fifth.
Justin Checchin just missed his season-best with a score of 237.60 to finish 12th while Zach Richards scored a 171.25 in his first platform competition of the season.
In the women's competition, sophomore Alison Maillard scored a 228.05 to finish fourth to go along with her second-place finish on the 1-meter and sixth-place on the 3-meter. Freshman Erin Norton scored a 217.60 to finish seventh, matching her finish on the 1-meter and slightly better than her eighth-place finish on the 3-meter.
"The women were a little off today, but this was a very successful meet for us," Shaffer said. "We were able to compete some new dives. I like where we are. I like the way the kids are working hard together. It's a great training environment and we just have a little more work to do to raise the level to where I think it could be."
Auburn's divers return to competition on Jan. 3 for the three-day Tennessee Diving Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.