In just her first meet as a UCLA Bruin, junior Karina Silva displayed the skills that are sure to make her a force in NCAA diving competitions throughout the year.
Silva, a transfer from Miami Dade College, was UCLA’s top performer at the Trojan Diving Invitational, held Friday and Saturday at USC’s McDonald’s Swim Stadium.
On the first day of competition, Silva finished second overall on platform, posting a score of 229.50 points, and third overall on the 3-meter springboard with a score of 302.65 points.
Both of Silva’s scores were above the NCAA Zone E qualifying standards, guaranteeing her an invitation to the Zone E Championships in March.
The standards, set before the season started, are 225 points in the platform competition, and 280 points in the 3-meter springboard competition.
Silva, whose specialty is platform diving, drew great praise from coach Tom Stebbins for her performance on the springboard.
“For her to be as good as she was in the 3-meter was tremendous,” Stebbins said. “Being over 300 is a really, really good place to be.”
Junior Laura Winn posted solid scores on the first day, as well. She finished fifth on the 3-meter while recording a personal-best score of 263.75 points, and scored 215.15 points in platform, less than 10 points below the zone qualifier, finishing fourth overall.
The second day of the invitational saw the team struggle on the 1-meter springboard. Silva, Winn and freshman Michelle Vale were all cut after the preliminary round. Freshman Maggy Boyd was the lone Bruin to advance to the final eight. She scored 248.05 points and finished fifth overall in her first diving invitational.
The story of the invitational was USC’s Victoria Ishimatsu. The All-American sophomore and defending Pac-10 champion on the 3-meter blew away the field of seven schools and finished first in all three diving events. All of her scores met the zone standards.
Stebbins said he was very pleased with his divers, and expects all four to put up zone qualifying scores over the course of the year, but saw their struggles on the second day as an indication of the work they still need to do.
“We’re going to be very exciting to watch later in the year,” Stebbins said. “Their best is yet to come.”
Diving now looks to next weekend, when they will team up with swimming and head to Arizona. Both teams face Arizona State on Friday and the University of Arizona on Saturday in dual-meet competitions.