Luton Diving Club took a team of 20 Divers up to Sheffield to compete in the National Skills competition. The competition saw some great dives from all the divers representing the club, with almost all the divers managing to improve upon their Eastern Region scores.
Saturday 3rd May
Day one saw three of the boys, Hayden Wilkinson, Nat Connolly, and Nick Gurteen all diving for the club. Hayden Wilkinson was first to compete, and produced some very consistent dives. He finished in 11th place with a score of 236.20. The next round saw Nat Connelly take to the pool in a fairly close run competition. Nat impressed with some very solid dives, scoring 34.00 for his front 1 ½ piked on 1m. Nat finished in 13th place with a score of 270.30, an impressive improvement on his eastern region score. Nick Gurteen was next to compete, and despite diving against some experienced competitors, he managed to hold his own and finish in 6th place with a score of 246.70.
Saturday also saw the girls take to the boards, with Olivia Fenn, Asher Omar, Emma Sheehan, Tuso Madiri, Natasha Bentley, and Sarah Fleetwood all competing. Olivia was up first, and despite facing some tough competition, she managed to finish in 13th place with a score of 220.60. Tuso, Emma, Natasha and Asher were next to compete, and faced a large group of competitors. Both Tuso and Natasha produced some very consistent dives, with Tuso scoring 228.90 placing her in 28th, and Natasha finishing slightly ahead in 27th with a score of 248.40, managing to improve upon her regional skills score. Asher dived very well in all 3 rounds, scoring 6 ½ or above for almost all of her dives, placing her in 14th with a score of 271.95 and achieving a personal best score. Emma had a superb competition, scoring 31.2 for her front 1 ½ tuck on 1m. Her impressive diving throughout the 3 rounds saw her finish in 12th with a score of 273.65, over a 20 mark improvement upon her regional score, and only narrowly missing out on a top 10 finish. Sarah also faced a large group of competitors, but did not let this faze her, diving very consistently across all three rounds, finishing in 20th place with a score of 247.00. Sarah was competing in the girls C2 13 years group, and dived very consistently on poolside, 1m and 3m. A solid performance saw her finish in 20th with a score of 247.00.
The last competition of the day saw Faye Leek and Zoe Gray competing on 1m and 3m in the Girls B+ group. Zoe dived well on 1m, and despite landing short on her back 1 ½, she continued to dive well on 3m. Zoe finished in 26th place with a score of 275.95. Faye had a very consistent competition, diving well on both boards. Despite having a slight wobble in her reverse dive tuck, she managed to finish in 24th with a score of 278.10.
Sunday 4th May
Day two saw all the remaining divers take to the pool all hoping to improve upon their regional scores, and achieve personal bests. Jacob Dranse and James Pollard were the boys representing the club. Jacob managed to hold his own among some tough competitors, scoring 7 ½ and 8’s for several of his dives. Some very impressive diving saw Jacob finish in 11th place with a score of 280.60, absolutely smashing his regional skills score of 235.10, and only narrowly missing out on a top 10 finish. James also had a very impressive competition, scoring 7 or above in almost all of his dives. A great performance across all three rounds saw James finish in 7th with a score of 297.60, again absolutely smashing his regional skills score of 261.10.
Alliyah Omar, Amy Rollinson and Lauren Jebb were representing the club in the Girls D1 group. Lauren produced some very consistent dives, with her back tuck roll on 3m scoring 7 and 7 ½ from the judges. Lauren finished in 25th with a score of 240.85, a 10 mark improvement upon her regional score. Amy dived very well, receiving 7 and 7 ½’s from the judges for her back fall on 3m which scored 30.80. Amy finished in 22nd with a personal best score of 250.95. Alliyah dived her way further up the leader board with a very solid performance across the three rounds, scoring 8 from all judges for her forward fall. Some very impressive diving saw Alliyah finish in 11th place with a score of 276.90, beating her regional score by over 30 points and only narrowly missing out on a top 10 finish.
Group D2 saw Rebecca Richings, Milla Flynn-Ruanne, Chenice Webster, and Grace Connolly take to the boards against the largest group of competitors. Rebecca and Milla both produced some excellent dives on poolside, 1m and 3m. Rebecca received 8’s from two of the judges for her forward fall on 3m, and finished in 36th with a personal best score of 249.05. Milla also received two 8’s from the judges but for her back fall on 3m, and finished only slightly ahead of Rebecca in 33rd with a another personal best score of 253.50. Chenice pulled out all the stops, impressing with her diving ability. She managed to dive her way up the score board finishing in 27th place with a score of 262.25, an improvement upon her regional score. Grace dived exceptionally well in all 3 rounds, managing to score and impressive 31.20 for her forward 1 ½ on 1m. Grace finished in 23rd with a much improved score of 276.80.
Congratulations to all the divers who competed in Sheffield, and well done all those who achieved a new personal best! Both Harry and David were very impressed with the standard of diving from all who competed over the weekend.
