15th Southampton Invitational
Southampton Diving Academy returned to the boards for the new diving season to claim success; hosting its 15th Southampton Invitational competition, the team retained the team trophy once again. This three day event attracts some of the best young divers in Great Britain and many are stars of the future, this year was no exception with 180 divers in attendance from Edinburgh to Plymouth and everywhere in between.
Showing some Girl Power for SDA, we had medallists in every age category; leading the way was Lucy Hawkins who dominated the Girls 16+ age group with an excellent display to win 3 gold medals in the 1m and 3m springboard, and the platform competitions. Tanya Watson in Girls 14/15 also took 3 medals, taking gold on the 3m, and silver in both the Platform and 1m events. Team mate Emily Martin took gold on the Platform with a huge score of 68.15 from the judges for her forward 2.5 somersaults with full twist from the 10m (before hotfooting it up to Leeds for an England Camp). Jessica Bennett also made the final in the platform and was delighted to take bronze over her Dive London rival by a single point.
In Girls 12/13 Milly Batten dominated the Platform finals from the off and took gold to go with her silver on the 1m, with team mate Maya Kutty taking a bronze on the Platform.
Dulcie Wilson in Girls 10/11 was also on good form making all 3 finals and taking a silver in both the 1m springboard and the platform events.
The boys were also in fine form with Max Cott taking silver on both the 1m and the platform in Boys 16+, Elliot Moorhouse joined him on the podium taking the bronze for the 1m, and William Osborne performing a forward 3.5 somersault on the 3m springboard to take the gold with a comfortable margin.
Brandon Foster came away with 2 medals in Boys 14/15 taking gold on the 1m Springboard with a huge score for his forward 2.5 somersaults and bronze on the 3m. Angus Kerr, recently recovered from having his appendix out and diving up into this older age group took a surprise silver on the platform with an excellent and consistent performance throughout.
The largest group of the meet was Boys 12/13 with 35 divers in that single category. Milo French (also diving up into this older age category) was delighted to make it into the final on the platform and even more delighted to take the bronze scoring 7’s and 8’s for his inward 1.5 pike somersault from the 7.5m.
Also achieving a place in the finals, winning top six medals and contributing to the team trophy win were: Ethan Bennett, Scott Palmer, Evie Johnson, Gabrielle Kirkham, Serena Torpey, Leon Baker, Robbie Lee, Bryn James and Tia Pritchard.
Director of Coaching, Lindsey Fraser said ” I was delighted with the way our divers, from different levels of our programme conducted themselves and supported their team-mates. There were many outstanding performances, which bodes well for the future, so congratulations to all the divers and their coaches.”
Many other SDA divers competed at this level for the first time and the future is looking bright for the 16th Southampton Invitational next year.
Full Results:
Girls Group D & Under 1m
2nd Dulcie Wilson, 12th Anjali Kutty, 23rd Maija Adamson
Girls Group D & Under 3m
6th Dulcie Wilson, 18th Maija Adamson
Girls Group D & Under Platform
2nd Dulcie Wilson, 11th Maija Adamson
Boys Group D & Under 1m
7th Bryn James, 9th Oliver Covell, 14th James Nicholson, 17th Illan Stead
Boys Group D & Under 3m
9th Bryn James, 11th Oliver Covell, 14th Illan Stead
Boys Group D & Under Platform
6th Bryn James, 8th Oliver Covell, 11th Illan Stead
Girls Group C 1m
2nd Milly Batten, 4th Maya Kutty, 6th Tia Pritchard, 8th Annabel Foster, 16th Olive Ullyatt, 18th Victoria Low, 24th Astrid Davis
Girls Group C 3m
9th Milly Batten, 10th Maya Kutty, 12th Victoria Low, 13th Tia Pritchard, 20th Astrid Davis, 21st Olive Ullyatt, 23rd Annabel Foster
Girls Group C Platform
1st Milly Batten, 3rd Maya Kutty, 4th Tia Pritchard, 9th Olive Ullyatt,
Boys Group C 1m
4th Ethan Bennett, 6th Robbie Lee, 7th Leon Baker, 10th Milo French, 22nd Nathan Bull, 25th Dylan Jewitt, 26th Thomas MacFadyen, 28th Oliver Cazaly, 29th Kai Lanham, 30th Jacob Smith, 31st Hamish Lindsay,32nd Max Targett, 34th Isaac Beard
Boys Group C 3m
10th Milo French, 11th Leon Baker, 13th Ethan Bennett, 17th Robbie Lee, 20th Oliver Cazaly, 23rd Nathan Bull, 24th Kai Lanham, 25th Jacob Smith, 30th Thomas MacFadyen, 31st Isaac Beard, 32nd Hamish Lindsay, 34th Dylan Jewitt, 35th Max Targett
Boys Group C Platform
3rd Milo French, 4th Leon Baker, 9th Robbie Lee, 12th Ethan Bennett, 15th Oliver Cazaly, 17th Nathan Bull, 24th Kai Lanham
Girls Group B 1m
2nd Tanya Watson, 4th Evelyna Johnson, 5th Emily Martin, 9th Gabrielle Kirkham, 10th Chloë Harrington, 11th Jessica Bennett, 12th Serena Torpey, 15th Ella Anderson, 17th Sofia Sathio, 18th Victoria Ward
Girls Group B 3m
1st Tanya Watson, 6th Gabrielle Kirkham, 9th Jessica Bennett, 11th Chloë Harrington, 12th Serena Torpey, 13th Victoria Ward, 14th Sofia Sathio, 15th Ella Anderson
Girls Group B Platform
1st Emily Martin, 2nd Tanya Watson, 3rd Jessica Bennett, 6th Serena Torpey, 12th Gabrielle Kirkham, 13th Ella Anderson, 14th Victoria Ward, 15th Chloë Harrington, 16th Sofia Sathio
Boys Group B 1m
1st Brandon Foster, 6th Angus Kerr, 9th Alex Walton, 10th Ashley Burnard, 12th Reuben Brown
Boys Group B 3m
3rd Brandon Foster, 4th Angus Kerr, 7th Alex Walton, 12th Reuben Brown, 13th Ashley Burnard
Boys Group B Platform
2nd Angus Kerr, 5th Brandon Foster, 7th Alex Walton, 8th Reuben Brown, 11th Ashley Burnard
Girls Group A+ 1m
1st Lucy Hawkins, 9th Abbie Wilson
Girls Group A+ 3m
1st Lucy Hawkins
Girls Group A+ Platform
1st Lucy Hawkins
Boys Group A+ 1m
2nd Max Cott, 3rd Elliot Moorhouse, 4th William Osborne, 7th Scott Palmer
Boys Group A+ 3m
1st William Osborne, 5th Elliot Moorhouse, 6th Scott Palmer
Boys Group A+ Platform
2nd Max Cott, 4th William Osborne, 6th Scott Palmer, 7th Elliot Moorhouse