Jespersgaard Claims 3M Title at Trojan Diving Invite
DAY TWO RECAP
Freshman Eden Cheng, senior Hannah Butler, and sophomore Zoe Jespersgaard all punched their tickets to Zones in 1-meter after finishing 3-4-5 in the 1M Championship at the Trojan Diving Invitational on Sunday afternoon at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
Cheng was the Bruins' top finisher on Sunday, taking third-place with a combined score of 556.65. She ended up fewer than three points behind the runner-up, USC's Grace Lee (569.55).
Butler (548.50) and Jespersgaard (547.90) both had big finals sessions to secure top-five finishes. Both notched their highest scores of the season thus far in 1M during finals, with Butler (288.25) and Jespersgaard (284.35) each notching Zones-qualifying scores. They were also the two-highest scores in 1M by any Bruin this season.
Cheng finished prelims in third place (275.20), and maintained that position with a season-best 281.45 in the finals session.
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DAY ONE RECAP
Sophomore Zoe Jespersgaard captured the 3-meter diving title with a combined score of 611.90 to highlight UCLA's first day at the 2022 Trojan Diving Invitational at USC's Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
Jespersgaard was the lone diver to break the 600-point mark, edging out USC's Nike Agunbiade (592.80). Agunbiade was the only other diver to finish within 50 points of Jespersgaard.
UCLA ultimately received top-10 finishes from all three of its entries, as senior Hannah Butler (539.95) was fifth and sophomore Maya Salvitti (477.20) was ninth in a 17-diver field. Other schools competing included UNLV, Fresno State, Pepperdine, and California.
The victory marked Jespersgaard's first as a collegiate diver in an invitational format, as she was runner-up in 3M at last year's Trojan Diving Invite.
Jespersgaard led practically the entire way, overtaking Agunbiade on her third dive of prelims and finishing with the top score of the opening session at 297.45. She briefly ceded the lead, by less than half a point, after the second round of finals, but came back to score over 58 points on her next two dives – a 107C and 205B – to take the lead for good. Those dives marked her two highest-scoring rounds of the entire competition.
Jespersgaard and Butler have both officially qualified for this season's NCAA Zone E Diving Championships, having cleared the 280-point threshold for 3-meter.
The Bruins return to action at the Trojan Diving Invitational on Sunday, with all three competing in the 1-meter championship.