Olympic divers visit college
Two Olympians were among the
dozens of divers on campus for the
National Collegiate Athletic Association
Zone E Diving Championships March 9 to 11 in the Aquatic
Center.
The winners from this meet will qualify to go to the NCAA National Diving Championships hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
Among the divers were former Olympians Blythe Hartley and Joona Puhakka.
Hartley is originally from Vancouver, Canada. She is a senior business communications major at the University of Southern California.
She said her trip to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience which she described as “phenomenal.”
Hartley was awarded a bronze medal in 10-meter synchronized diving at the Athens Olympics.
Hartley was one of four members from her team to advance to the NCAA diving finals in Georgia.
“[I was] very consistent on springboard this weekend,” Hartley said. “I could have done better on 3- meter though.”
Hartley won the women’s 1-meter and 3-meter springboard competitions.
Puhakka is a Finland native attending Arizona State University. He competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
He described the Olympics as an exciting experience.
Puhakka said he did well in the Zone E meet including a personal best in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard.
Puhakka’s performance led to victory in the men’s 1-meter and 3-meter events.
Of the Arizona State team, three of five members qualified for NCAA Nationals. Three qualifiers was the team goal, Puhakka said.
The Zone E Diving Championship consisted of three events for men and women. Divers competed in the 1-meter springboard, 3- meter springboard and platform.
Mats Wiktorsson from the University of Hawaii won the men’s platform event. All of his dives were consistently difficult; he only dived from the 10-meter platform throughout the entire event.
The University of Hawaii’s, Rui Wang won the women’s platform.
Not everyone was impressed with their diving at this competition.
Arizona State University’s Megan MacDonald described her performance as disastrous.
“I did not dive the way I practiced,” she said.
Staff Writer Ebonee Gilliard can be reached at StaffWriter2@occc.edu.
