BYU Divers Complete Near-Sweep at Invitational

PROVO -- Claiming three out of four events, the BYU diving teams dominated at the annual BYU Diving Invitational Friday and Saturday.

Senior All-American Rachelle Smith Kunkel blew away the competition, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter women's events. Kunkel won the 1-meter with a score of 460.95, over 83 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Utah's Jill Comins. On the 3-meter, Kunkel and teammate Anna Tutunnikova placed 1-2, again ahead of Comins.

On the men's side, the Cougars captured the first four placements on the 3-meter, led by freshman Aaron Russell, who scored a 540.65. He was followed Viraj Patil, Scott Randall, and Devan Porter. Utah's Nick Smith managed to grab onto the 1-meter event, edging BYU's Patil by just over three points. The Cougars took over second through sixth place in the event.

Both the BYU men's and women's swimming and diving teams will now begin training for the inaugural Mountain West Conference championships, to begin Feb. 16 in Oklahoma City.