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Swim and dive sees 2 podium finishes at 1st meet after extended offseason

Sophomore diver Hannah Butler finished second in the 1-meter springboard dive and was one of three Bruins to compete at the NAU Lumberjack Diving Invitational this weekend. (Courtesy of Don Liebig/UCLA Athletics)

By Kyle Boal

Dec. 8, 2020 5:34 p.m.

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated the accompanying photo was of Hannah Butler. In fact, it was of Maria Polyakova.

This post was updated Dec. 9 at 12:52 p.m.

It was unexpected and on short notice, but the Bruins dove headfirst into competition.

UCLA swim and dive saw three divers compete in the NAU Lumberjack Diving Invitational over the weekend, ending the meet with two podium finishes.

Diving coach Tom Stebbins – now in his 23rd year with the team – said the Bruins did not have an official go-ahead to compete until less than a week prior to the event.

“We put this on our schedule a long time ago, but we didn’t really officially get clearance to go until early this week,” Stebbins said. “We feel very fortunate that we got the opportunity to come out and compete. It took a lot of people to look this over. We’re fortunate also, in our sport, it’s easy to space on the deck. Our kids have been really disciplined. Our department’s been really disciplined.”

Sophomore diver Hannah Butler placed second in the 1-meter springboard competition with a score of 284.70, while sophomore diver Katie Shaheen posted a score of 229.20 to finish runner-up in the platform dive. Arizona’s Delaney Schnell won the 1-meter springboard and platform dive with scores of 322.50 and 326.10, respectively.

Last season’s UCLA swim and dive Newcomer of the Year and CSCAA All-American in the 1-meter springboard, Butler was the only Bruin that did not compete in the platform dive. Also finishing fifth in the 3-meter springboard dives, the sophomore said she learned mental tactics last year that she carried over to the invitational.

“What I learned from last season that I took into this weekend was a lot of mental strategies to stay calm and collected in the competition environment,” Butler said. “Just to have a little bit of confidence in yourself while you’re competing. I definitely was able to carry that through to this weekend from March.”

Freshman diver Aurora Huxman participated in her first collegiate event and was one of the three UCLA student-athletes to participate this weekend. Competing in all three events, Huxman’s highest finish was sixth in the platform dive after finishing second in the preliminary round.

The Bruins started the event strong, as Friday’s 3-meter springboard preliminary saw Butler and Shaheen finish first and second, respectively. But, the pair ultimately finished fifth and seventh while Huxman finished 11th.

Stebbins said his biggest takeaway from the weekend was the athletes’ ability to fix mistakes without regard to the results.

“What I’m really pleased with is just their resolve and their determination to make corrections,” Stebbins said. “For us, at this point in the year, we never focus on results. It’s a byproduct of just focusing on the process and really staying determined to make corrections that we need to make and hopefully getting a result that looks right.”

UCLA swim and dive was awaiting NCAA championships in March before all winter and spring championship events were canceled because of COVID-19 concerns.

A long offseason ensued for the team, and its student-athletes turned to Zoom workouts and training with former club teams to stay in shape. Given the muscle-memory nature of the sport, Shaheen said she’s glad to be back training and competing.

“This was very different because we don’t really take this long of a time away from diving in general because it’s a very muscle-memory sport,” Shaheen said. “Just having that much time off, time off of a board, it feels completely different. Starting back at UCLA, I feel like I’m slowly getting the hang of diving and everything again.”

Stebbins noted this was a great experience going into a future season for his divers given the extended offseason.

“We had a lot of really, really good things happen, and there were some rough spots too, but that’s to be expected for the first meet of the year,” Stebbins said. “For them to not have competed since last March, or even February, I thought that they handled the situation incredibly well. I’m very pleased and really excited, quite honestly, about what we’re going to be able to bring home from this.”

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Kyle Boal | Sports senior staff
Boal is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's water polo beat. He was an assistant Sports editor on the gymnastics, rowing, swim and dive, men's water polo and women's water polo beats. Boal was previously a contributor on the men's water polo and women's water polo beats.
Boal is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women's water polo beat. He was an assistant Sports editor on the gymnastics, rowing, swim and dive, men's water polo and women's water polo beats. Boal was previously a contributor on the men's water polo and women's water polo beats.
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