Stevick shines at Diving Invitational

James Stevick led all Division III competitors at the Bulldog Diving Invite at the University of Redlands on Saturday. The eleven-team invite featured divers from six SCIAC schools, plus five NCAA Division I and II programs.

Stevick placed second on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. His 288.75 points on the 1-meter board fell to UC Santa Barbara's Lester Wright, yet Stevick scored 52 points higher than the third place finisher, UC San Diego's Luke Calkins. Interestingly, Calkins had edged Stevick by seven points on the low-board during October's CMS at UCSD dual meet. Stevick scored 307.75 on the 3-meter board, also placing second between Wright and Calkins. Both of Stevick's scores were NCAA D-III Zone qualifying performances.

Julian Laguisma and Jay Kabellis also represented the Stags at the meet. Laguisma placed 12th on the 1-meter board, one spot ahead of teammate Kabellis. On the 3-meter springboard, Laguisma was 14th and Kabellis 16th.

The women's meet was dominated by the Division I and II programs, with the top 11 spots secured by divers from UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, California Baptist University and the University of San Diego. Amidst the strong competition, CMS proved to be tough in the Division III race, with Athena divers nabbing four of the top six spots among SCIAC competitors on the 3-meter board and four of the top 10 on 1-meter.

Carli Lessard led the Athenas in the six dive 3-meter event. Lessard was 12th overall and first among D-III competitors. Fellow first-year Athenas, Mary Lynn Clark, Chavi Checker and Maia Presti were 15th, 18th, 21st overall, respectively.

On the 1-meter board, Presti scored the Athena's top placing, finishing 13th. Lessard was 16th, Clark 28th, Checker 29th, and Alexandra Neitz 34th.

The CMS swimmers and divers open SCIAC competition with a double dual meet between Whittier College and Chapman University on Saturday, December 7 at Whittier. Diving will begin at 10:00 a.m. with swimming slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.