The Ithaca College men’s and women’s diving teams hosted the 11th annual Dick Comanzo Diving Invitational Jan. 26 at the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.
The Bombers competed against Alfred State University, SUNY Cortland, Hartwick College, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Oswego and Rochester Institute of Technology. The Bombers had several athletes with standout performances.
Junior diver Justin Moczynski finished in first place in the 3-meter event for the second year with a score of 499.90 points. He also took home the top finish in the 1-meter board with a score of 550.85. Freshman diver Ethan Godfrey followed closely behind Moczynski, placing second 3-meter with 481.90 points and third in the 1-meter with a score of 460.35.
Diving coach Chris Griffin said he envisioned a strong performance from his divers after a month of training over the winter break. The team knocked some rust off the week prior during the Henry Kumpf Invitational and were able to build off the effort with a strong showing this meet.
“We had lots of really hard training during the winter training session,” Griffin said. “A lot of good energy came from it. [The divers] have their goals set, and they are willing to work for it.”
For the women’s team, they dominated the top of the leaderboard as well, placing three divers in the top four of the 1-meter event and sweeping the top three spots on the 3-meter board.
Junior diver Ava Lowell took home first place in the 1-meter with 448.05 points and was followed by freshman diver Eliana Wallock, who scored 441.40 points. Freshman diver Karalyn Pawcio finished fourth and scored 439.80.
Pawcio also won the 3-meter dive, scoring 498.50 points. Lowell came close behind and placed second with a score of 481.90. Wallock picked up her second top-three finish of the day and came in third on the 3-meter board with 474.35 points.
Griffin said that he knew Pawcio was due for a big day based off of her training leading up to the meet.
“For today, what we were looking for was some athletes to make some regional cut scores,” said Griffin. “We are very, very fortunate that Karalyn Pawcio made her first two regional cut scores of the season. She needs one more off of either board to go to regionals.”
