Sports Swimming & Diving

Bouter earns podium finish again in Minnesota

Mustangs

Against some of the top teams in the NCAA, Micaela Bouter earned a third-place finish in the 3-meter dive. | File photo/The Cougar

Three members of the diving team traveled north this weekend to compete in the Minnesota Diving Invitational.

Of those three, redshirt senior Micaela Bouter had the best performance. After placing in the top two in every diving event this season, Bouter finally faced top competition from across the nation. On the final day, Bouter prevailed, earning a third place finish in the 3-meter dive with a score of 255.05 points.

“I’m very proud of how well all of the girls competed against the Big 10’s best,” said diving coach Bob Gunter in a news release. “It was a great experience to get a feel for the high level of competition we are going to see at the zone meet in March. Now we are looking forward to coming home for the Phill Hansel Meet next week.”

The invitational pitted the Cougars against their toughest opponents to date. The 10-team meet consisted heavily of teams from the Big 10 Conference, including Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa, ranked fourth, 16th and 20th, respectively.

Bouter was joined by her teammates, sophomores Lauren Burrell and Katelyn Abernathy.

On day one, the three competed in the 1-meter dive. None of the competitors, however, made it to the podium. Burrell and Abernathy did not advance past the preliminary rounds, finishing 23rd and eighth, respectively.

Bouter stayed competitive with the rest of the divers but managed only a sixth place finish out of the eight divers in the final.

Day two saw more success from the team as they competed in the 3-meter dive. Bouter once again performed well, finishing the preliminary round with a total of 284 points, which put her in the final.

But this time she was not alone. Abernathy, finishing 20th, again did not advance, but Burrell qualified for the finals with a points total of 267.85.

In the final, Burrell scored 287.95 points, earning her a seventh-place finish out of the eight competitors.

The divers now return to Houston to take part in hosting the Phill Hansel Invitational from Thursday through Saturday.

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