It was the freshman divers who stole the show for Cal Poly Diving in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Diving Championships, scoring some of the best individual results in recent memory.
The four day meet, spanning Feb. 11-14, was held in Mission Viejo and resulted in both the first and second highest finishes for divers in program history.
This year, a new team competition format was added as an exhibition event, in which the women’s team finished third out of the seven teams entered. The men’s team did not have enough divers to enter the competition.
On the second day of competition, freshman diver Justin Dolezal made history, landing the highest finish ever for a Cal Poly men’s diver in the 1-meter dive. Dolezal placed third in the competition, scoring a 292.20, the best result by any Mustang men’s diver since joining the conference in 2014-15.
Freshman diver Madden Saini was another standout performer across the championships, scoring 293.70 and taking fourth place in the men’s 3-meter dive, the second best placement in program history. Saini also captured sixth place in the men’s 1-meter dive after posting a 260.35 score.
On the women’s side, freshman diver Shayna Gayer led the way with a 12th place finish in the platform dive, tied for second best by a Mustang in the event since 2017.
Senior diver Briana Medveki capped an impressive career with a 15th place finish in the platform dive, leaving Cal Poly holding the second-best score in the women’s 3-meter dive from earlier this season.
In what was a season full of challenges, the Mustangs surged at just the right time, capturing big wins in dual meet victories over UC Santa Cruz and University of the Pacific before again performing well in the championships.
Many questions remain about the future of the program this offseason, namely who the head coach will be come next season. The impressive freshman performances in this year’s championships are a good sign for the team’s outlook for the future.
The Mustangs will now shift their attention to the swimming portion of the MPSF Championships, which run from Feb. 21-24 in St. George, Utah.