Luton Diving Club attends the East Regional Age group Diving Championships and comes away with a 10 medals, 3 of them GOLD! Here is how we got those medals:
Katherine Kerr comes away with 3 medals from her 3 events: 2nd on 1m, 2nd on 3m and GOLD on 3m! There was some brilliant battling between her and tough contender Elora Graham from Cambridge Diving. Katherine has had a fantastic year so far medalling at every competition she has entered!
In the same event Katie Cripps gains 2 bronze medals on 1m springboard and 5m platform. She just missed out on 3m coming 4th! Katie has been learning some difficult new dives on 3m, including her back 1.5 somersaults and inward 1.5 somersaults.
Oliver Simpson just misses out on medals, twice getting 4th place on 1m and 5m platform events. He dropped below his usual on 3m to come 8th, but was against some very tough competitors, some of which are the best in the country in his age group.
Grace Kouset gains a bronze medal at her first Age Group event on 5m platform. She came 5th on both 1m and 3m springboard. Some competition nerves held her back on some of her dives, but a little more practise and confidence will see her medalling on all 3 boards.
In the same event Georgie Phillips came 6th on 1m and 4th on platform. Georgie dived well on 1m, but really upped her game on 5m platform where she has recently had to re-learn her armstand somersault, and did a great back dive and reverse dive piked.
James Cripps gains GOLD on 1m springboard. Against some tough competition and rivals, James pulled it out of the bag to get the 2nd GOLD of the day for the club. James didn’t have his best competition on 3m coming 4th, just missing those medals, and comes 6th on platform. James was competing not only on 5m but has added 7m dives to his list also.
Abby Fraser comes away with 2 bronze medals on 1m and 3m. Abby didn’t have her best competition and I am sure she will be looking to better these results later in the year. Abby, normally commended for her twisting ability, unfortunately dropped her front 1.5, 1 twist from 3m, but bought herself back with her back 1.5, 1.5 twists to score 39.6 points.
Henry Biggs dived extremely well to get Luton Diving Club’s last GOLD medal on platform. Henry’s training was exceptional but dropped a couple of dives in the competition, though still managed to get the top award! He was competing with 2 of the hardest (and scariest!) dives of the competition; back 2.5 somersaults tucked and inward 2.5 somersaults tucked. Henry gained another medal, bronze this time, on 3m springboard and came 4th on 1m.
Josh McAllister also competing in Henrys age group, dived very well at his first Age Group competition. Using some new dives Josh came 6th on 1m and 7th on 3m. A few more competitions and he will rid himself of those nerves to become that competitive diver.
Last but not least, was Elliott Browne in the men’s platform. Elliott is very new to the sport coming from a tumbling and gymnastics background and caused quite a stir among other clubs; this being his first event and coming away with an Age Group medal and qualifying score! Elliott came 2nd in his event and qualified for National Age Groups, though to give him more time to get the basics he will be looking to compete again towards the end of the year.
We look forward to our next event where we hope to be getting more medals! Go Team!
