AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn men kicked off this year's AU Diving Invitational on Wednesday with a third- and fourth-place finish in the 1-meter event.
Junior Conner Pruitt paced the Tigers with 343.95 points to finish third. He was followed by sophomore Skip Donald who took fourth with 323.85 points. Donald has now scored 320 or more points on 1-meter in all three meets this season, an improvement from last season where his season high was 316.70.
Senior Logan Andrews scored 294.70 points in Wednesday's finals to place seventh in the 11-man field while freshmen David Vargas and Hunter Kebler rounded out the Auburn contingent, finishing ninth and 10th respectively.
All five divers improved their scores from prelims to finals.
"There were some good dives done. If you look at Conner, both of his reverse 3-and-a-halfs were good. But we have some work to do," Auburn head diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. "Most everybody stepped up from prelims to the finals, but one of the things that we talked about yesterday preparing for this meet is to step up in the prelims and then step further up in the finals.
"Sometimes when perhaps you don't dive to the level you know as an individual that you can, it kind of rings a bell, a wake-up call, and your level of focus becomes greater every day in practice. That's all I can hope can happen."
LSU's Juan Hernandez won the 1-meter event with 398.90 points while North Carolina's Anton Down Jenkins scored 393.25 points to finish second.
The men will be back on the boards Thursday for the 3-meter competition beginning at 3 p.m. CT. They will follow the women who are set to begin at 11 a.m. CT on 1-meter. Auburn will once again be joined by LSU, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Pruitt, Donald pace Auburn men in 1-meter event
