Suder, Farabee reach finals in Zones

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Divers Nicholas Suder and Bryce Farabee of BYU reached the finals in the Zone E Diving Championships at the Air Force Academy this weekend.

“Overall we definitely didn’t dive to our full potential, but some good things happened for us in competition,” BYU head diving coach Keith Russell said. “Nic was a finalist in both events and freshman Bryce was the only other one that was a finalist. They needed to be a little more intense and engaged in this competition but I think we learned a lot.”

After qualifying in 17^th place in preliminaries (303.10), Suder placed 17^th in the finals with a score of 613.20 points in the men’s 3-meter. He qualified 17^th again in the 1-meter (286.85) and then took 13^th in the 1-meter with 608.50 points.

Farabee qualified 16^th in the 1-meter preliminaries (288.70) and placed 18^th in the finals with a score of 571.05 points in his first appearance at Zone Championships.

“He’s (Farabee) going on a mission, but he will be a star in the future for us and become one of the better divers,” Russell said. “He definitely will be one of the ones we depend on in the future.”

In the men’s 3-meter, Cougars Matt Hopper and Farabee placed 25^th (277.25) and 26^th (272.85) in the preliminaries, respectively.

In the women’s 1-meter competition, BYU senior Raleigh Williams Taylor placed 25^th (247.60) in the preliminaries while teammate Mackenzie Rands placed 52^nd (200.25). In the 3-meter, Taylor placed 44^th (218.95) while Rands placed 50^th (211.85).

“Raleigh she did some of the best dives she’s ever done in this competition,” Russell said. “She should go out with a great happiness and gratitude and remember the good things that happened. That’s what I’ll remember from today, three of her best dives came today and that was a great accomplishment for her.”

The Cougar divers failed to advance to the NCAA Diving Championships later this month, so for BYU this concludes the 2013-2014 diving season.