Freshman Charapich leads Divers at final day of Jean Freeman Invite
MINNEAPOLIS – A career-best performance from freshman Peri Charapich helped Kansas land two top-15 finishes in the three-meter dive on the last day of the Jean Freeman Invitational at the Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Charapich’s six-dive score of 216.75 was almost 27 points more than her collegiate-high in the three-meter dive. She placed 14th behind Minnesota’s Yu Zhou (398.10), who also took the one-meter title on Friday. Zhou’s victory completed a sweep of all three female diving events for the Golden Gophers.
“This was the meet we’ve been looking for from her,” diving coach Gabe Downey commented. “There’s still a lot more we’ve got to work on, but I was really happy with her performance. In terms of the dives, she did a really good job of staying focused and prepared between the dives and making her adjustments in a very smart and efficient way without overdoing it.”
Amanda Maser followed up a strong performance on the platform dive on Friday by finishing right behind her teammate, placing 15th with a score of 211.40. Competing in two deep springboard competitions, Kansas was able to walk away with a pair of top-15 finishes in addition to a fifth-place finish on the platforms.
The Jayhawks performed well in what was essentially their first dry run of the Big 12 Championships. As an assessment tool, the Jean Freeman Invitational provided Downey plenty of optimism regarding his divers’ progression and where they could be in February.
“This is our midterm,” he said. “Overall I think we got a ‘B’ on that midterm, and I’m happy with that, it’s pretty good. We can be better and I think the results communicated a lot to the girls. The individual dives communicate how the girls are doing. There’s a lot that we really liked but there’s a lot of stuff we know needs to get better. We knew that, but there’s nothing like a competition to impress that on us. I think it was exactly what we needed and I think we’re going to be a lot better for it.”
Kansas will hit the pool next in a double dual against Boise State and UCLA in Los Angeles on January 6, 2017.
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