University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Divers Wrap Up National Diving Championships
7/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
University of Minnesota divers Drew Brown, Jaqueline Schroeder and Cole Young wrapped up the 2008 Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships, Sunday, in Pasadena, Calif. Overall, the Twin City Divers, led my Minnesota diving coach Jason Baumann, improved four spots from last year's finish from ninth to fifth overall with 101.50 points.
In overall men's competition, the Twin City Divers finished second overall with 95 points, trailing only Indiana Diving, who had 198 points. Young finished third overall with 47.50 points, while Drew Brown placed eighth among 44 participants. On the women's side, Twin City Divers finished 11th overall with Schroeder placing 25th overall with 11.50 points.
Young competed in two events during the final day, while Brown and Schroeder competed in one to close out the championships.Brown and Young paired together in the synchronized 3-meter springboard event and finished third overall. Brown and Young earned a score of 351.57, but were edged out by Christopher Colwill and Jevon Tarantino (433.44) and Matthew Cooper and Harrison Jones (399.33). Prior to his synchronized event, Young competed in the finals of the senior men's 3-meter, where he placed eighth overall with a score of 385.75.
Schroeder competed in the synchronized women's platform event with Florida State's Aleia Monden. The duo finished third overall with a score of 241.44. Michelle Cabassol and Kaylea Arnett won the event with a score of 304.02, while Amy Korthauer and Cassandra Cardinell placed second in 267.30.
"Overall I thought we had a great meet," Baumann said. "Heading into the Olympic year, everyone looks for an opportunity to impress people and try and compete at their best and I thought we did a good job of that. Jac had a great quarterfinal and came up just short in the semifinals. However, she didn't even qualify last year so it was a positive step and a great set up for next year. The same thing with Drew. He battled through some adversity and had he held his armstand he probably could have moved up to fifth overall. As for Cole, you just can't say enough about Cole. He competed in all five events and really had a breakthrough meet. Cole is doing a back 3 1/2 pike right now, which only three other people can do this and one is in the Olympics. He was steady and consistent throughout the entire meet."
