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Members of Southampton Diving Academy, who train at the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex, once again made a big impact in a National event when they brought back the Senior Men's Team trophy at the beginning of the month. Competing at Ponds Forge International Pool in Sheffield only days after it had been affected by the serious floods in the city, the 13 strong team from Southampton put in a great performance, managing to take the Senior Men's title even without the support of top diver, Peter Waterfield, who was out of the running with a rib injury. In the individual events both Gareth Jones (23) and Stacie Powell (21) retained their titles on the 1m and 10m boards respectively, with an impressive back 3 ½ somersaults from Stacie helping her to the gold position. Tom Owens (21) also performed well on 1m springboard, to take his first senior national individual medal. Taking silver medals were Blake Aldridge (24) on tower and Louise Van Hoof (19) on 3m springboard. In a hard fought and tremendously exciting final Blake was pipped to the post in the 10m event by Thomas Daley, the thirteen year old from Plymouth who is currently thrilling the British diving world with his potential. He was closely followed by team mate, Gareth Jones, in the bronze medal position. In the women's 3m Louise was unlucky, having won prelims and semis, to drop her fourth round dive so having to settle for second place. In the 3m springboard event Blake Aldridge, using the opportunity to try out a very challenging list of dives, which will need more polish before they bring him the success he deserves, had to settle for a bronze medal. "It was always a bit of a gamble," he explained, "but I don't regret it because I need to start using these harder dives in competition if I'm going to be able to get anywhere on the international scene and you have to start somewhere!" In the junior events Chris Mears won his first ever junior title on 1m springboard, using a difficult inward 2 ½ somersaults to great effect. He also went on to take bronze on 3m, although he had gold in his sights, which was scuppered by a dropped first dive. Success also came in the synchronized events, although there was disappointment for Stacie Powell when her Plymouth based partner, Tonia Couch, had to drop out on the first day she arrived after sustaining a knee injury. Monique McCarroll (26) and her partner, Sarah Barrow, from Plymouth, giving a top performance despite Monique's whip lash injury, had no trouble taking the first position on 10m platform. Blake Aldridge and Chris Mears, in a new partnership, took the bronze medal in the 3m synchronized event, with Max Brick and Chris Farrow taking the silver in the junior event on the same board. In the 10m synchronized event Gareth Jones and Tom Owens took silver, with Chris Mears and Max Brick in bronze position in the senior event and picking up silver in the junior event. Director of Coaching, Lindsey Fraser, was delighted by the performances. "I was more than happy with the performances and results," she said. "We have had a tough year with injuries and personal tragedy affecting the squad, so to see them pull this out of the bag was very heartening and says a lot for their resilience and commitment." Full results:
Synchro Senior
Individual Junior
Synchro Junior
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| For further details call Lindsey Fraser: 023 8072 0922 / 07810 305355 or email Lindsey.fraser@southampton.gov.uk |
| Photo opportunities can be arranged |