The University of Redlands divers took to the pool at the Brenda Villa Aquatic Center in Commerce on Thursday, competing in the first round of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Preliminaries. Freshman Jessica Kolsky (Red Wing, MN) and sophomore Akari Matsumoto (Redmond, WA) both landed among the top nine in the women's standings for the one-meter to qualify for a spot in this weekend's finals.
After a low-scoring start, Kolsky progressively improved throughout the competition, moving into fifth place by her second dive. She unleashed three consecutive dives that earned scores primarily in the eights to propel her into third place. She finished the day with a career-best score of 393.95.
Matsumoto advanced to the SCIAC Diving Championships with her ninth-place finish in Thursday's preliminaries. She scored 343.45 points after averaging more than 30 points on each of her 11 dives. Her highest effort came on her third dive, when she earned 45 points.
For the Bulldog men, freshman Fernando Hudson (Indian Wells, CA) just missed the cut to advance to the finals of the three-meter board, finishing 10th with a score of 341.10, which was .25 behind the last qualifier.
The Redlands swimmers join the action in Commerce on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as the Bulldogs compete for their final placing among the SCIAC as well as strive for NCAA qualifying times in multiple events. Fans may follow the action through live web-streaming at http://takeitlive.tv/swimming/14tl011/. A user account with Livestream is required for access to the video.