KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Last month, Conner Pruitt took home first place in the 3-meter event at the Auburn Diving Invitational. On Friday, the Auburn sophomore picked up where he left off with another victory on 3 meters at the Tennessee Diving Invitational.
In a field of 33 divers, Pruitt scored a personal-best 420.30 points in the finals to win.
"Conner stepped up in the finals," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "He did a reverse three-and-a-half for 80-plus points, which was really awesome to see because he missed it in the prelims. He responded well and made the correction in the finals."
Junior Logan Andrews also finished top 12 in prelims to advance to the 3-meter finals where he scored 331.60 points to finish eighth overall. It was his second-highest score of the season on the event.
The women opened the invitational with the 1-meter competition, and Auburn senior Alison Maillard finished third in the finals with 289.95 points. The two-time SEC Diver of the Week in the fall was second in prelims with 295.55 points.
"I thought Alyson was really strong, but on both lists she went only 30 points on her reverse two-and-a-half," Shaffer said. "It's one of the harder dives that females do at 3.0, but she missed them both and that was disappointing because she's been doing them pretty well in practice. We're going to have to make that correction as we head into conference."
Freshman Ashlynn Sullivan also earned a spot in the 1-meter finals after scoring 251.45 points in prelims. Her finals score of 244.60 was good for ninth place overall.
The scores from prelims on both the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter will be used as part of Saturday's dual meet against Virginia. The Auburn women earned 13 points with a 1-3-5 finish while the men finished first and third versus the UVA divers to grab 12 points.
On Saturday, the Tennessee Diving Invitational will continue with the men's 1-meter event and the women's 3-meter event. The scores from prelims will once again be counted toward the final tally between Auburn and Virginia, whose swimming teams will face off in Auburn on Saturday. The first session is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. CT from the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.
Live stats for the dual meet will be available through auburntigers.com, and you can follow the results from the Tennessee Diving Invitational at divemeets.com.