News and Views

04/30/10: A great time was had by all, as Hayden, Trevor, Kelty, and Kayla joined.

4/24/10: The surprises continue, as the AAU Diving President and Boston Area

Diving Coach Joe Chirico came into town, told me he was skiing for a couple

4/22/10: Great surprise yesterday, click 1 2 3, of Brian Kennedy (my former teammate at Ball

4/14/10: Congrats to Tiffany Maple, who today is signing a National Letter of Intent to

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TWO YEAR HIATUS, while Coach Kev was playing Head Swimming and Diving Coach at Colorado School of Mines. Now, it's GAME ON for Sagebrush Diving again.

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The 10th Annual Sagebrush Diving Invite came and went, and we are all so very thankful for all the parents and coaches for making this diving competition such a consistent and successful early-season meet. The meet finished earlier than any previous year (everyone was out of the pool at 4:00p), and the format has become the perfect progression for junior and senior divers getting ready for their next club and HS season. A letter of gratitude was given to every participant describing the many things that have occurred during the past 10 years of Sagebrush Diving Invite, and if you did not receive a copy of that, I would be happy to send you a digital copy (EMAIL ME). The diving community is thriving, despite the loss of a handful of clubs and facilities during that 10 years, and we are so happy to have spent a 10th Saturday celebrating the start of another successful diving season. Good luck to all the divers this season and keep striving for the...

Registration begins in October, and we cannot wait to celebrate one of the "constants" in our sport. Same format, same scoring, same weekend... and a full decade of fun. While our team name may have changed, the name of this meet might go on for a long time.

9/05/08: Thanks for your patience... What a fantastic first week of the new AAU Diving season. Lotsa new faces, GREAT attitudes, and high levels of patience as we tried to squeeze a week of practices into three days. Next week, things should spread out nicely, and we shouldn't have too many space issues. Help us out each day with names for this first couple weeks, and thanks again for everyone being so quick to register for AAU and on-time with monthly dues.

9/02/08: What a great turn out... at tonight's C O L D team meeting. Thanks to everyone for showing up and asking GREAT questions. If you missed the team meeting, feel free to call Coach Kev to ask any questions you might have at 303.949.8331. We're on the boards starting Wednesday. Did you notice... it got a little C O L D today in the Arvada area... the COLDest its been in the past several months. Could be a sign!!! (I mean, it just COuLD)... Stay tuned...

8/27/08: Welcome to the 2008/09 Season of COLD, one of Colorado's top diving clubs. Formerly known as Sagebrush Diving, COLD will become one of the top names in the nation when it comes to springboard and platform diving. If you are like us, and love to flip, twist, and play this sport we call diving, you're in the right place.

8/15/08: 307 Diving Shines at End-of-Season meet, hosted by Sagebrush Diving

The new Wyoming club came to Colorado for a fun, end-of-Summer meet with Sagebrush Diving, and fun was had by all. Derek Campbell and Kayla Lee Lucas stole the show. Special thanks to John Strider for volunteering his time to judge, Trent Weitzel for bringing his club and parents, and to Meili Carpenter for helping out announcing and coaching. Detailed results are posted. CLICK HERE

Heartfelt thanks goes to Andrew Coup, who worked tirelessly this Summer to help a small group of young, inexperienced divers at Sagebrush move quickly to big improvements. The feedback received about the training/coaching the kids received this Summer was amazing, and we wish you luck in your last semester at Drury University. It couldn't have happened without you!!! Thanks also to Meili Carpenter, who had a full Summer that included coaching at Sagebrush, coaching diving camps at University of Buffalo, training hard in both Colorado and New York, and hitting the highest level of her career by placing 12th on 1- meter and 22nd on 3-meter at the highest level of diving available to most American divers, the USA Diving Senior Nationals.

08/05/08: Sagebrush Diving will be hosting an end-of-Summer FAC on Friday, August 15, at Meyers Pool. We will be running a 6-dive format on both boards at $15 per board. It should be a FAST and efficient meet.... detailed results will be posted shortly after completion of the second event. Email us if you are either bringing a team or travelling alone without your club team. All competitors MUST be AAU members in good standing. EMAIL

08/04/08: Mile High Dive Club finishes as AAU Nationals Team Runner-up. Congratulations and way to put Colorado on the map in the AAU. Results at DIVEMEETS

07/25/08: Meili Carpenter (Sagebrush Diving/University of Buffalo) was one of 4 Colorado-grown USA Diving Senior National competitors, and the only diver training in Colorado this past Summer of 2008. Meili finished 22nd on 3-meter, and 12th on 1-meter. As her first time at Senior Nationals, that's amazing. That's as good as it gets for the diving elite... the only thing higher than winning a USA Diving Senior National title would be the Summer Olympics. Congratulations Meili, and hope you win it all next year!!! Results at DIVEMEETS

07/15/08: Fort Collins Dive Club cracks the Top Ten at USA Diving Zone C in Missouri, with Michal Bower having a solid weekend in the FINA B events (1M-4th, 3M-8th, and Platform-6th!!), Taylor Sishc in the FINA A events (3M-3rd, 1M-3rd, and Platform-2nd!!), Erin Lionberger in the FINA A events (1M-23rd, 3M-22nd), and Lexie Spykstra in FINA C (1M-13th, 3M-14th). Nice weekend for these Colorado divers and Coach Kevin Witt. Results at DIVEMEETS

AAU Colorado District Championships, hosted by FCDC and meet director Luke Richmond, held on Saturday, June 28, 2008, are complete. Unfortunately, they didn't print complete results after each event, had no master score sheets, and lost critical computer data for the 3M results due to a technical error in data transfer from one computer to another. They also have no records for the Novice events. They are doing everything they can to recover results from each of the divers that competed. If you have your dive sheets for 3M, or if you were a novice diver, please E-mail us here with your official final scores of each event. Thanks.

SAGEBRUSH DIVING IS NOW ACCEPTING NEW DIVERS IN PREPARATION FOR THE 2008-09 DIVING SEASON. If you have any type of gymnastics, tumbling and/or acrobatic experience and would like to arrange a tryout, please feel free to email us at CLICK HERE. We look forward to your inquiry. Thanks, Coach Kev

With the highest combined DD and competing in her home college pool at University of Buffalo, you might think Meili Carpenter was on "Easy Street." Think again... after fighting off one of the worst injuries she's had to manage in her diving career, sustained just before her college team's conference meet, she doesn't take one healthy day for granted. "The worst thing about it was the timing," referring to the meets that she had to fight through, including their MAC conference meet, NCAA Zone Diving Championships, and then the NCAA National Championships, where her injury kept her from competing her strongest list. "I simply couldn't press with my left leg."

GO MEILI... Good luck at Senior Nationals. Our entire club team is pulling for ya.

05/23/08: FAC May 2008: Great Job, Mile High Dive Club and Coaches Jen Hess and Hannah Herbold. Your team looks GREAT!!! Also, special THANKS!!! to Susie Rosemeyer who helped us run the meet. We couldn't have done it without her help. Judging Panel for all events were as follows: J1: Hannah Herbold, J2: Jen Hess, J3: Kevin Sage. For the Synchro Event, J1 was execution for Meili, J2 was execution for Kenny, and J3 was synchro.

Detailed Results FAC May 2008 Does anyone have any pictures they would like to post?

05/06/08: Sagebrush Diving announces the return of Meili, coaching nightly starting Tuesday night, May 13. "She has meant so much, not only to our elite divers, but to the beginners as well," Coach Kevin Sage explains. "She will be training for Senior Prequals while she is here, and taking over the reigns of the Developmental Program. I know she's excited to be home, and we couldn't be happier to see her coaching Colorado kids during her Summer break." You can read up on Meili and her recent accomplishments at the UB Bulls Athletic Website.

3/17/08: Meili Carpenter (University of Buffalo sophomore) joined one of the largest contingencies of Colorado divers qualifying for NCAA Nationals Division I Championships, to be held this weekend at the prestigious Ohio State University pool. Watch her results live at divemeets.com, and watch the men compete the following weekend at Federal Way, Washington (Sean Moore OSU, Taylor Roberts IU, Aaron Feight DU, and Benjamin Grado AZ) at the same website. Congrats to all the divers.

03/13/08 (Columbia, MO): TWO BRIGHTON HIGH GRADUATES (pictured above with all their coaches, left to right, John Conyers METRO, Kenny Rhoades METRO, John Strider BRIGHTON HS, Andrew Coup DRURY, and Richard Hackett, DRURY) earn ALL-AMERICAN at NCAA Division II Nationals. Coach John Strider must be proud of his two brightest HS athletes. Andrew Coup, a senior at Drury University and coached by Richard Hackett, placed 3rd, while Kenny Rhoades, a sophomore at Metro State and coached by John Conyers, placed just behind him in 4th overall. Kenny went on to place 3rd on 3M, while Drew placed 10th in his last collegiate national meet. Nice job, guys.

NCAA Division II Men's 1M: (1) Nate Jimerson, SCSU, 520.75 (opts were 105b, 205c, 305c, 405c, 5235d, 5134d), (2) Brandon Birchak, St. Rose, 508.90 (opts were 105b, 205c, 305c, 403b, 405c, 5152c), (3) Andrew Coup, Drury, 457.95 (105b, 107c, 205c, 305c, 405c, 5335d) , (4) Kenny Rhoades, Metro, 453.7 (105b, 203b, 303b, 305c, 403b, 5134d), (5) Cayce Bolt, WSU, 437.6, (6) Ross Eiden, SCSU, 433.15, (7) James Kane, Clarion, 416.55, and (8) Jason Flores, SOCO, 406.0. Top eight finishers achieve AA Status.

02/19/08: Wow... What a great weekend for Sagebrush Divers (and former Sagebrush Divers). 4A Highlights: Erin Lionberger (Longmont HS) stole the show, by leading 4A State for much of the contest, before conceding to finish as State Runnerup for 2008, and she was chosen as Colorado's 4A Diver of the Year. Allie Meisner (Broomfield) had the lead for at least a few rounds, before finishing 3rd overall. It was especially fun to watch Kelly White (Evergreen HS), who originally dove with Sagebrush before moving to Mile High Dive Club for the last three years. Diving with an obvious injury, she was in the mix for the lead throughout the entire contest before finishing 5th overall. It was also great to see Sam Gardner (Summit HS), who dove with us during last season for a couple private lessons, and then our coaches did a Summit HS clinic (where Coach Kev nearly broke his ankle in a freak spotting accident). 5A Highlights: There were 5 seniors on the podium (top 8). Of the non-seniors, Raleigh Williams (Arvada West) was the top finisher, placing 5th with a score of 430.15 pts. Annie Rhoades placed 8th, despite an incorrect dive (did 203b instead of 5231d). Extremely fortunate that she was diving so well. What could have been??? Then, in 9th place was Zoe Perlmutter (Wheat Ridge). Finally, it was Tiffany Maple and Kim Anderson rounding out the Sagebrush Divers, placing 23rd and 25th, respectively. Great job, gals. Awesome!!! Check out the results at: Girls State 5A Girls State 4A

02/13/08: Congrats to all the HS Girls that finished their season this past weekend at their respective League Meets. To those who were fortunate enough to qualify, have a great week of preparation for State Championships. Way to go to the following girls at their League Championship Meets: Raleigh Williams led from the start at the Jeffco League Championships to win her first League title. Very close behind her was Zoe Perlmutter in third place. Brandi Gonzales placed 8th in her final meet as an AWest Senior. Also, Kayla Lucas placed 9th, and Hannah Jurgens finished 13th. Erin Lionberger finished Runnerup at her league championships, which is pretty cool, but to top it off, she also earned Senior Diver of the Year. Wow!!! Tiff Maple and Kim Anderson placed 3rd and 4th in their tuneup for 5A State. Finally, Annie Rhoades won her League Championship meet by over 75 points in her final year as a HS diver. If anyone has complete results of their league meet, please send them to me for posting at EMAIL COACH KEV.

02/03/08: Meili Carpenter had a record weekend for the University of Buffalo, and it couldn't come at a better time. In a meet against MAC rival Bowling Green State University, Meili reset her own school record on 3-meter with a 6-dive score of 336.10 pts. MAC Championships will be held in less than three weeks, and she starts this month of February as one of the favorites on both boards. More...

01/28/08: Allie Meisner and Erin Lionberger ended in a virtual tie at the Boulder County Invitational (need to register for free account to view article), finishing 1-2, and scoring 395.85 and 395.25 respectively. Also, Kim Anderson finished 4th, by far her highest finish at that meet. Nice job ladies... how cool!!! Finally, another shout out to former Sagebrush and Altitude Diver Nicholas Halbach, who set new school records on both boards and helped his Merchant Marines knock off the Coast Guard for the first time since 1985. Way to go, Nick. You make everyone in Colorado proud of you. Finish strong!!!

01/25/08: Tiffany Maple has qualified for State with her 2nd 6-dive qual. Yay!!!

HS Updates: What an exciting weekend for current and former Sagebrush divers and coaches. Kim Anderson, Legacy HS senior, coached by DJ Hummel, achieved her second State Qual with a 6-dive list score of 200+, is now qualified outright for State Championships in the middle of February. Yay, Kim!!! Woohoo... Kim has been juggling a tough senior year schedule that includes a full load of tough AP classes, HS practices, and then diving with Sagebrush when she can find the time. It paid off. Further north, Longmont HS diver Erin Lionberger (pronounced LEE-own-beh-JAY) scored 400+ (with reportedly "her best 203b ever") to place 2nd in the Mountain View Invite. Erin has signed a National Letter of Intent to Boise State in Fall 2008. Arvada West sophomore Raleigh Williams paced a group of current and former Sagebrush divers in placing 3rd at the Jeffco Invite over the weekend. Zoe Perlmutter, Wheat Ridge, placed fourth. Additionally, freshmen Kayla Lucas (10th) from Arvada HS, Kati Spillane (11th) and Andrea Redling (13th) from Ralston Valley, placed in the Finals. Also, Brandi Gonzales (18th), Carly Koczera (18th), Brook Wineland (20th), Sabrina Weymouth (21st), Paige Kistner (22nd), and Holly Williamson (24th), and Jill Weiman, Julia Weiman and Jan Toland competed in the JV competition. Congrats to them all.

College updates: Meili Carpenter, Bryce Engstrom and Kenny Rhoades were all in action over the weekend. Meili had two meets, one against Binghamton on Friday night, where she scored 289 on 3M with a lower DD list than she's used to and 281 on 1M, winning both boards; then Saturday, scored 301 winning 3M for a second time, this time vs. Toledo, where her list included 305b. Bryce (BYU sophomore) dominated the TCU divers by placing first on 1M with a score of 286.95, while finishing 4th on 3M (What happened up there, B-Money?). Kenny had an amazing weekend, setting all four pool records (6-dive and 11-dive) travelling to Mines, while setting and resetting all of his school records at Metro State in winning both 1-meter and 3-meter events. Caitlyn Kelly's last meet was at home in the UNLV Invite, where she placed 3rd on 3M and 5th on 1M. Nick Halbach was recently named the ECAC Diver of the Meet by winning 3M and placing second on 1M during the ECAC Division III meet in December 2007. Chelsea Hartling placed 12th on 1M, 11th on 3M, and did not compete on platform at the Houston Diving Invite back in December 2007.

January 11, at the Colorado School of Mines. The more the merrier... If you need directions on how to get there, please Email us at DIRECTIONS

01/06/08: Call to Arms: Please pray for a good friend to our program, Denise Moriarty, who will be having some surgery on January 16, 2008. Please pray that the surgery is a success, and that her family (including our very own Erin "EMO" Moriarty, picture below right in the black bandana) is carried by the healing powers of the Holy Spirit. Go get 'em, Denise!!!

12/22/07: What a GREAT Pirate Party at the Black Bart Invite!!! We had 25 athletes participate in the first annual Black Bart OPEN. Detailed Results are posted at divemeets.com, with High Point Results posted here at Sagebrush Diving On-line.

12/11/07: WAY TO GO, Becca Bolin, on having the COURAGE to do her first back FALL-IN on 3-meter last night. How exciting!!! Even more exciting for a bunch of our divers tonight learning a little about COURAGE... diving is such a tough sport, learning to manage your fears and overcome them. I am excited about what I am seeing going on right now in the diving well at Meyers Pool. Keep up the great work!!! Good luck to all the divers competing this weekend at Coaches Invite at Mtn View HS in Loveland, CO. We hope you do GREAT. Also, Congratulations!!! to a former Sagebrush Diver, Nick Halbach, who finished his high school years diving with Altitude Divers down in Littleton and competed for Coach John Conyers at Ralston Valley HS. He was named ECAC "Diver of the Meet" after winning the 3-meter and finishing 2nd on 1-meter at the ECAC Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. Not too shabby for a freshman!!! Hey Nick, did you compete your patented butt dive, 1/2 twist, 5233d? Hope you nailed it... and Congratulations!!! Halbach is the second former Sagebrush Diving athlete that has garnered ECAC diving honors (Cassidy Lynch ECAC Diver of the Year 2005-06 after winning both 1M and 3M at the end-of-season ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championships, which includes Division I, II, and III teams). We are proud of them both!!! ~ Coach Kev

12/05/07: The first competitive weekend of Colorado girls high school has come and gone, and we now have a new club meet on the December schedule. Check out the details above... Proceeds of the meet will be benefitting Military Ministry, an important division of Campus Crusade for Christ International. If you want to compete in this meet, and your team is not planning on attending, please send an EMAIL right away to the meet director, and let him know you will be diving (and eating desserts) with us. It should be a small enough group and we will have 3 coaches on deck to help you out. Please check out the following two links for more information on what these organizations are doing in the world that we live in:

Sagebrush Divers are asked to check out the DIVERS section of the website, and update your webpages. If you aren't on that list, please email me. If you are, but when you click on your name, you want to update the content, please email me. Thanks so much. ~Coach Kev

November is coming to a close, and what a month it was. Colorado high school girls opened their season on November 10th with their first practices around the State, Sagebrush Diving hosted one of the biggest club invitationals in club history (the 9th Annual on the 17th), the Colorado club diving scene lost another great team to a coach retiring (Good Luck!!! to our friend and competitor, Coach Randy Huff), while we welcomed a new club team to the Colorado Springs area (PEAK Diving)... If we have too many months like this, it'll be tough to keep up with. Sagebrush Diving would like to wish good luck to all the HS girls in their season's first meets, starting Thursday, the 29th. Go get 'em, girls!!! Remember, if you can get your coach to send us complete diving results (all competitors, placing, scores, and team affiliations) from your meet, we will definitely post them. Send HERE

11/18/07: Sagebrush Diving Invite 2007 was a HUGE success. I would like to personally thank all the coaches and athletes for such a fun and efficient meet, and especially our meet managers that made the meet run relatively flawlessly (Bill Keating, Mrs. Kuhn, Mrs. Sishc, Kenny Rhoades and Cassidy Lynch). Mile High Dive Club walked away with the team competition with more than double the number of divers compared to any other team, and many divers broke into the All-Time Top Ten in the 9-year history of the Sagebrush Diving Invite, including Mady Ingmire (MHDC) and Kyndal Kuhn (SAGE), who set new all-time records in their respective age groups. We should all be very excited about the future of our sport... so many young and new faces in our sport... should make for a very special event in 2008, the 10th Annual!!! Stay tuned for more growth and excitement, and congratulations to all the competitors for following their D.R.E.A.M.

11/09/07: USA WINS!!! Jr. Pan Am Boys Title, Just Misses Title for the Girls Lillian Hinrichs of Husker Stars Diving (NE) wins GOLD on platform, edging out USA teammate Annika Lenz (from Trojan Dive Club in CA) by almost 17 points. Most of the top USA talent came from one of two junior clubs (Indianapolis Starz and The Woodlands Diving Team), although we do have to point out that one other USA Gold Medal was won by a diver that started in a program coached by Kristopher Hoffman, the Husker Stars Diving coach, and his wife. (OK, so I am a little Region VI biased!!!)

The RMDA Welcomes PEAK DIVING to the competitive club diving scene in the Colorado Springs area, coached by Coach Lisa. More information coming soon....

Sagebrush is currently setting our Competitive Team Groups: Think you have what it takes to be a competitive diver? Email us right away, as spots on the competitive roster are going fast. Click HERE to e-mail us. Our two competitive groups will be starting a program that is modeled after the same training program as the National Training Center (that's right, you'll be following the same principles of a training program as our 2008 Olympians). We will announce our groups soon; however, training begins this week (of 11/05/07). Here we go...

10/26/07: The new competitive season schedule is building up right now, so if you know of a meet to be held, please email us at UPCOMING MEETS.

10/08/07: Coach John Strider, Coach John Conyers, and Coach Kev recently took a valuable weekend off, traveling to our National Training Center in Indianapolis, IN, and then to check out the new digs for the Purdue Boilermakers. We are so thankful to all the coaches and athletes that took part in our learning during the weekend, allowing us to pick their brains about how they train their athletes. THANKS to the following, who made it all possible: Eric Barnes, John Wingfield, Wenbo Chen, Sean McCarthy, The ENTIRE USA Diving National Office, all the athletes training with the OMP and Rising Starz groups that were so open and honest with us, including Justin Wilcock, Thomas Finchum, David Boudia, Matt Bricker, Victoria and Haley Ishumatsu, Mary Beth Dunnichay. We would also like to give a BIG THANKS to Adam and Kimiko Soldati, not only for sharing their training and coaching secrets, but for the wonderful hospitality they showed in inviting us to the pre-game activities with several friends of their church community in West Lafayette. Great games of Cornhole (think horseshoes). Blake Soldati is going to steal some hearts and rip some dives someday. If we could only show you the amazing dryboard work he has progressed to... when he gets into the FINA Group G (3-overs), he's going to dominate. ~Coach Kev

We just posted the FCDC Diving Invite 2007 meet results on the Meet Schedule and Results page. Thanks again to Fort Collins and their head coach, Kevin Witt, for hosting such an efficient meet.

Congratulations to both John Conyers and Randy Pacheco. Conyers finished as 3-meter National Champion at U.S.A. Masters Spring Nationals in Miami on May 19th. Pacheco finished as National Runnerup on 1-meter. On Sunday, Conyers was National Runnerup on 1-meter, and Pacheco held 9.5's on his 105b to place 4th on 3-meter. Monday the 21st was the big day for the Synchro pair, where they "dominated" the springboard competition to win the Synchronized Springboard National Title. Results can be found at DIVEMEETS.COM

Summer Championships 2007: After two hosted meets at Meyers Pool within the span of 7 days, everything is back to normal... well, almost. We are pleased to announce that Sagebrush Diving finished____ as a team at 2007 District AAU Colorado Championships, and ____ as a team at 2007 Region VI Summer Championships. Raleigh Williams, Annie Rhoades, and Cody Engstrom will be competing in Dallas during the weekend of July 12-15, 2007. Stay tuned to DIVEMEETS.COM for updates and results of West Nationals in Dallas.

Spring Region VI and West National Championships 2007: Trent Kindvall, Annie Rhoades, Katie Russ, and Raleigh Williams were the highlights of Sagebrush Diving during the spring season. The four divers travelled with Coach John Conyers to Lincoln, Nebraska, for a chance to qualify to West Championships. While Annie and Raleigh have much more competitive experience than the younger two, all four were beacons of light for the future.

TRENT KINDVALL: This was Trent's first experience with regional competition, which is a whole new level for him. He performed admirably... with a brand new 3M list, and a very new 1M list, he did well enough to earn what we call a default qualification to West Nationals (ie. while he was just out of the top 5, two divers ahead of him chose not to attend Nationals, so he had the option to go). Too much too soon? Maybe, but I think most people would agree that this guy has a huge upside. We wish we could fast forward one or two years from now to see where he develops to.

ANNIE RHOADES: Annie has been diving longer than the other three Sagebrush Divers combined. To sum up her trip to where she is right now, she started with Brighton Diving for several years, then moved over to Mile High Dive Club, and is now with Sagebrush Diving. She pulled out one new BIG dive (405c) on 3M and a solid list on 1M to make a significant improvement (score AND place) than her last Spring Regional (2006: 1M 23rd with 246.30 pts, 3M 38th with 96.45 pts; 2007: 1M 15th with 255.10 pts, 3M 21st with 243.40 pts). She has since added another new dive. We'll see what Summer brings in our home pool?

KATIE RUSS: Katie only dove on 1M, but by placing 2nd in her age group, she qualified for West Championships and was our sole competitor at Mission Viejo, CA, where she placed 19th on 1M. She continues to work on developing her 3M list, and once that happens... her family will be piling on the mileage flying around the country. Thank goodness her Papa is a pilot for Frontier. hehehe

RALEIGH WILLIAMS: Raleigh has had the most dramatic improvements over the past 12 months in diving... it is hard to keep track. First, she placed 8th at 5A State Championships as a freshman at Arvada West. However, we strongly believe the best is yet to come. Her improvement statistically between the 2006 and the 2007 Spring Regionals is undeniable (2006: 1M 21st with 178.60 pts, 3M 17th with 198.40 pts 2007: 1M 7th with 248.45 pts, 3M 8th with 237.05 pts). With a few more DD multipliers, some cool things are about to happen in her diving career. 16-18 girls are happy she doesn't turn 16 'til 2008!!!

Stay tuned. Summer Championships are just around the corner. Our competitive team has grown just a bit, and each practice brings more improvement and growth. There's no denying that Sagebrush Diving has a great future.

11/20/06: Sagebrush Diving Invite 2006: The meet on Saturday, November 18, 2006, was a huge success. 110 divers from 3 different States. Mile High won the Team Competition with a meet record 597 points, while Michal Bower (Loveland Boardworks) set the All-Time 13-under Girls records on both 1-meter and 3-meter.

07/28/06: B.O.B. Meet was FUN and FAST. Brighton Diving attended the first of hopefully many Friday meets that our club team will host. The meet featured 15 divers from two teams, and they performed either a 6-dive/4-dive list, or a FINA list per their age group. Both boards could be competed, and the meet was finished in less than two hours. RESULTS posted soon.

07/27/06: B.O.B. Diving Meet at Meyers This Friday, July 28th. Warmup is at 4p, meet starts at 4:30p. We will randomize the order of divers. Girls 1M, Boys 3M first, then we'll switch. You have to show up to find out what B.O.B. stands for. You must be an AAU diver to compete... and NO, your team and your coach do NOT have to be there for you to compete. Should be a fun time... $10 per board. Results will be posted first in total score, and within a couple days, detailed results will be posted using EZMeet. That makes the time spent at the pool FAST and efficient. (One manual table, two or three judges) Coaches (and individuals competing without their team present) please EMAIL ME by 2p on Friday with your possible roster, and each diver's probable respective dive lists. Most divers will be throwing 6-dives (12&over) or 4-dives (11&under), although divers MAY use straight FINA junior rules as well. No team scores kept. Format of results will be as follows: Name/Team/Score/No. of Dives Performed with all the girls' results in one section, and boys' results in another.

07/25/06: 1st Annual FC/DC Invite was a success. While no team points were kept, many individuals had personal best performance at the meet. Aislinn O'Kane and Erin Moriarty both smiled a ton, and had WAY too much fun, finishing 2nd and 5th overall in their 1-meter diving event. Annie Rhoades returned from a week without diving, only to throw a 302c that landed on her WATUZZI on 3-meter... she apparently had a REALLY fun meet, and that's what counts. Kenny Rhoades mixed it up with a college diver from Wyoming (Tyler Miller, FC/DC) and almost tied him on 1-meter. Tyler was the runnerup on both boards at the recent RMDA Championships against the always tough Aaron Feight (Altitude Divers and University of Denver), and Miller was able to squeek out a win on 1-meter, while dominating the competition on 3-meter. Rhoades finished runnerup on both 1-meter and 3-meter. Tiffany Maple had a really good day on 1-meter. Battling a shoulder injury recovery, the young star threw a couple new dives on 1-meter and using high school 6-dive dual meet rules, would have been only 20-25 points away from qualifying for HS State meet (and that is without the judging boost that high school officials tend to award). That's right on target, if you ask me. Then, our diamond in the rough that is getting more and more refined... Zoe Perlmutter. Fighting a crazy schedule between Cheerleading Camp, travelling to Mexico for a week, helping support her Dad (Ed Perlmutter) in his campaign for Congress, and trying to train diving, she had two best scores on 1M and 3M in finishing 2nd to Emily Kasyon (MHDC). Nice job, Zoe!!! Also, special thanks goes to Meili Carpenter, who coached all our divers at the meet. Meet results to follow... Thanks Kevin Witt for hosting the meet, and sending results so quickly.

07/24/06: Randy Pacheco, Meili Carpenter, and Cody Engstrom STAR in recent meets. Randy competed in the recent USA World Gay Games in Chicago, IL, where he finished just out of the medals (4th both boards), but held 7's on most of his dives. Great success. Randy is training VERY hard for a meet this weekend in Montreal, then his competitive season culminates at the FINA World Masters Championships in California in August. Meili competed at the Senior Prequals, walking into the hotbed of diving (Indiana University). She came away with one of her best finishes ever as a young senior diver. She finished just less than one point out of second after her first list of optionals on 1-meter, then came back in finals against an incredibly accomplished senior field to finish 6th overall. On 3-meter, she finished prelims in 8th, then moved up to 6th in finals with her best dive of the five optionals (5152b for 59 pts) helping her cause. It was the highest scoring dive of the round of all the finalists. Meili was 1st alternate to Senior Nationals on 3M... a great accomplishment, and proved in her 1M prelims that she can mix it up with anyone in the nation on the low board. Cody Engstrom finished second on both boards, then did some platform, at the recent Tuckfield Diving Invite in Utah after a long week of training at the BYU Diving Camp. Way to go Cody!!!

06/26/06: MHDC wins RMDA 2006... Sagebrush Diving 2nd... BARELY!!! What a great day for AAU Colorado. Kicking off its first season in Colorado in over 3 decades, AAU Colorado can now field a significant field at AAU Nationals, with 27 new AAU National qualifications in the books. Congratulations to all the divers that qualified. For those that did not, never fear. Fort Collins is hosting the Fort Collins Diving Invite (1st ever, and it will be AAU), scheduled for Saturday, July 22, at EPIC Pool in... you guessed it, Fort Collins. More information will be posted soon. Sagebrush Diving will also be hosting a small invitational on a Friday evening in July 2006.

06/16/06: National Ranking: Meili Carpenter 5th in NISCA All-American, Kenny Rhoades 59th. Wow!

4/27/06: Three Sagebrush Divers Competing at Junior West Nationals in Minneapolis. Riley Skeen-Gaar, Nick Siegler, and Meili Carpenter are competing this weekend in Minneapolis, MN. All three are qualified on both 1-meter and 3-meter. "These three kids represent the tip of the iceberg for our team," admitted Coach Kev. "I believe we have some exciting things coming up for our junior team this Spring and Summer." The team will begin training starting the week of May 1st with a focus on the AAU Nationals, to be held at Mission Viejo, CA in August. Stay tuned for more details on upcoming meets, including the 2006 RMDA Championships and the 2006 Colorado Cup Series.

04/18/06: Meili nearly wins the U.S. Open Qualifying Competition on 1-meter... and then settles for the bronze medal. Third place in a stacked competition, going head-to-head with Mary Yarrison (Texas Longhorns) and Amanda Miller (Purdue)... pretty nice finish for the Fairview HS senior who has signed a national letter of intent for Buffalo. Her future coach, Karla Helder, was quoted as saying, "Hoo-rah. We saw it all." Karla was speaking of the live video feed allowing everyone across the nation watch live streaming video of the competition. You can find live video and complete results with details at DIVEMEETS.COM. Look under the U.S. Open Qualifying Competition in Indianapolis, IN. 1M results 3M results Check out the U.S. Open Finals at http://www.divemeets.com

04/17/06: Meili qualifies for U.S. Open in 3-meter. After a very rough Easter training weekend, Meili recovered enough to qualify for the prestigious U.S. Open in Indianapolis. U.S.A. Diving hosts the elite meet this coming weekend, touting the 24 best divers in the nation in each discipline. Congrats to her. Her hard work and dedication are paying off. In similar news, Linda Wagner also qualified for the U.S. Open. Wagner, a former Sagebrush diver, currently trains with Texas Longhorns Diving in Austin, and had a solid performance.

04/17/06: Rhoades scores 247 with three voluntaries. It was fun to hear from Kenny this past weekend. Kenny threw a 6-dive list of dives with three voluntaries in the list, and scored an amazing 247.0 pts. Congratulations, Kenny. Keep goin.

03/24/06: The Last Word. That's what Kenny Rhoades might have in the case of the highest 6-dive score. Cassidy Lynch scored 292 pts his junior year (he didn't compete HS his senior year at Legacy, and now dives at Buffalo), Bryce Engstrom scored 306 pts his senior year (now finishing up his second year of a mission served in the Siberia region of Russia before returning to dive at BYU), and Meili Carpenter scored 311.95 pts her senior year (will be diving with Buffalo next season). Kenny has scored 279 and 285 so far this year, and has many more chances to set the highest mark. Who will have the last word?

03/13/06: Sagebrush Diving Celebrates Double Gold by Meili Carpenter. In one her last hurrahs as a junior diver, Meili Carpenter wins gold in two of the largest 16-18 girls events I have ever been a part of. It was the first time I wished for three panels of judges, with nearly 60 of the best girls in 1M. Highlights of all Sagebrush divers will be found soon at the Team Updates portion of our website. What a great weekend for all the Sagebrush divers. Complete Results: TEAM INDIVIDUAL

03/08/06: Julia Northrop 3rd NAIA All-American Honors. At this year's NAIA National Championships, "Jules" was runnerup on both boards to earn her third year of NAIA All-American honors. Congratulations to Julia. Her best finish yet. That's what I'm talking about. She wasn't that far off winning both boards... ah, goals for her senior year. YES!!!

03/08/06: Cassidy Lynch finishes MAC Conference 4th on 1M, 6th on 3M. Cass came out of prelims on 3M in 2nd place, which shows what the future holds for this young diver (good competition, too, since the MAC Champ on both boards is a freshman, too). Way to go, Cass. Next up for the young college diver... Zone Championships and a chance to qualify to NCAA National Championships, and maybe a little redemption against his MAC competitors. Good luck, Cass. On to Annapolis, Maryland!!!

02/24/06: Cassidy Lynch wins 3-meter at ECAC Championships with 333.40 points for 6-dives, a new University of Buffalo school record. He turned around and won 1-meter on Sunday to take home the award of Diver of the Year. Congratulations, Cass. We knew you could do it. Send us videos and pictures. Coach Helder must be very proud. ~Coach Kev

02/23/06: John Conyers Colorado 4A Diving Coach of the Year. Congratulations to Coach John Conyers, whose coaching efforts are paying off. Pictured above hurling himself from an unknown height into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii's cliffs, Conyers coached 9 different high schools this season (I think that is an unofficial record of some sort), and watched two of his high school divers nearly win State Championships (Pomona's Cori Swango was only 19 points out of 1st at 5A, and Ralston Valley's Kylie Sellers was less than 9 points out of 1st at 4A). How cool for you, John. Congratulations!!!

02/20/06: Seniors finish career with Diver of the Year Awards. Seniors Meili Carpenter (Fairview) and Kristin Wilson (Broomfield) finish their diving careers with their highest placing at State, a great way to end brilliant careers. Meili won 5A, and received the prestigious 5A Colorado Diver of the Year, while Kristin placed 12th at 4A state, and received the 4A Colorado Diver of the Year. A boatload of others did extremely well at State, and the future looks very bright. How other Sagebrush divers did, in order of placing at their respective State meet:

Place	Name	Score
1	Meili Carpenter (5A Diver of the Year)	493.60 pts
2	Kylie Sellers	425.25 pts
6	Allie Meisner	355.15 pts
7	Erin Lionberger	355.00 pts
8	Chelsea Hartling	380.85 pts
12	Kristin Wilson (4A Diver of the Year)	315.05 pts
18	Zoe Perlmutter (highest FR at 5A)	235.95 pts
19	Casey Cerny (first year diving)	234.20 pts

02/12/06: Lotsa success at League Championships. All the girls has successful weekends at their respective league meets. Good luck at State Championships at EPIC.

02/10/06: It's GO Time... HS League Championships for all the girls on our team. We wish you all good luck. Meili is leading the Continental League Championships with a score of 339 pts (after 8 dives). Kylie Sellers, Erin Lionberger, Allie Meisner, Kristin Wilson, Chelsea Hartling, Casey Cerny, Brandi Gonzales, Taylor Simnioniw are all in action today and tomorrow with their respective league championships. A couple of great articles have been written... Click on their names MEILI KYLIE Parents, let me know if there are more.

01/30/06: Boulder County Results Congratulations to Meili Carpenter, Erin Lionberger, Casey Cerny, and Kristin Wilson for going 1-2-3-5 at BoCo Invite. Wow!!! Nice job, ladies.

01/15/06: Sagebrush Divers Spread Out: Kylie Sellers wins her second Jeffco Invite, Meili Carpenter and Erin Lionberger go 1-2 at Mountain View Invite, and Chelsea Hartling wins her first Smoky Hill Invite. Kudos goes out to Casey Cerny, who achieved her first State Qual in her diving career with her 5th place finish at Mountain View Invite. Cerny joined Sagebrush immediately following a very successful Holiday Diving Camp with us, and has a bright future. Congrats to Kristin Wilson, too. Kristin scored another easy State Qual to finish 8th in the meet. Finally, another final shout out to Meili Carpenter, who finally broke the 300 point barrier against Cherry Creek in a dual meet recently. Her final 6-dive score of 311.95 points put a dent in the egos of two of her best buddies, Cassidy Lynch (now a scholarship diver at Buffalo) and Bryce Engstrom (now a scholarship diver at BYU who just completed his first of a two year mission in or near Siberia). Their 6-dive highs during their high school careers were... well... let's just put it this way... lower than Meili.

Smoky Hill Invite 2006 partial results: (1) Chelsea Hartling, POND, 335.3 pts, (2) Kacie Miller, GW, 326.15 pts, and (3) Olivia Covey, GRAND, 320.85 pts.

01/02/06: Happy New Year. Sagebrush Diving has so much to be proud of from the year 2005. Here's to a more successful 2006!!! Good luck to all our competitive and lessons divers. ~Coach Kevin Sage A recap of the year will be completed and posted soon.

12/17/05: Coaches Invite 2005: Banner Day for Sagebrush Diving. So very proud of our amazing girls. Great sportsmanship. 4 of the top 5 finishers out of 41. Meili Carpenter dominated the event from start to finish, while Sagebrush Diving teammates Kylie Sellers, Erin Lionberger, and Chelsea Hartling were in contention for second most of the way. It is more good news knowing that Allie Meisner (Broomfield), who is currently one of the top ranked girls in 4A, will be out of her cast (broken fingers) and diving just in time for State Championships, and hopefully, in time for League Championships for her school. Also, Kristin Wilson was in Coaches Invite action for the first time in her career. Congrats to all of them. COMPLETE RESULTS

12/03/05: TOPS High Point 2005 Sagebrush Brings Home the Most Junior Titles!!!

Sagebrush Divers captured 3 Junior High Point Titles overall (more than any other team), and a Novice crown. Cody Engstrom (11U Boys), Jake Hibben (11U Boys Novice), Nick Siegler (13U Boys), and Erin Lionberger (18U Girls) all came out on top, while Tiffany Maple (2nd in the 13U Girls) nearly won her event by splitting up the top two returners from the 2004 event. Also in action were the top two 2004 finishers in the 18U Girls event, Meili Carpenter and Kylie Sellers. Meili took a rare day off by throwing only her voluntaries and her lowest DD optional on both boards (203b on 1M, 105b on 3M), while Kylie is on injured reserve (snowboarding) and is required to stay off the 3M for a few more days. Let that be a lesson to all of you... snowboarding is awesome!!! Ha! Other Sagebrush divers in action, Emily Walker is only a little bit of DD away from being hard to beat. Her 1M list was 3rd overall. Also, Ally Hibben competed well on 1M, placing 4th overall. Both Kenny Rhoades and Brandi Gonzales received trophies for their performances in their respective High Point events, while Hope Cole dove well in 11U girls.

11/28/05: 7th Annual Sagebrush Diving Invite 2005... Sagebrush Diving dominates the JO portion of the meet, winning 8 titles (and 1 Novice/OPEN title), but Mile High's depth (along with 2 JO titles and 9 Novice/OPEN titles) was not to be denied. Mile High returned to the top of the TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP with almost double the number of total entries than any other team. That's amazing. Congrats to them: (1) MHDC, 536pts, (2) SAGE, 386.5, (3) LOVE, 219.5, (4) TOPS, 110.0, (5) ALT, 104.0, (6) UNA, 84.0, (7) TUCK, 67.5, and (8) Brighton, 19.0. COMPLETE RESULTS

09/29/05: A letter sent to me by the USA Diving Junior VP, Ron Piemonte. Please note that divers must dive FINA age, with the exception of divers who turn 19 before the end of 2006... they are being grandfathered in, and will be allowed to compete in GROUP A (16-18 year olds), even though theoretically, their FINA age is 19. (Per my telephone conversation with Amy Kwan, USA Diving Rules Chair, on September 29, 2005) So, Kenny and Meili, you both are safe!!!

9/19/05: Carpenter and Sellers achieve Top 15 in the Nation status in the NISCA Top 40 Diving list for the 2004-05 academic year. Meili Carpenter (Fairview HS) and Kylie Sellers (Ralston Valley HS) received news today from the NISCA All-American committee. Meili was selected 6th in the 6-dive category, and 4th in the 11-dive category. Kylie was selected 13th in the 6-dive category and 14th in the 11-dive category. Congratulations to them both. No other divers in the RMDA (Colorado and Wyoming) were selected (boys and girls).

09/15/05: Member Highlight: Meili Carpenter. Meili Carpenter, a senior at Fairview HS in Boulder, has been training with Sagebrush Diving for just over two years, starting back in June of 2003. For the next five weekends, Meili will be one of the busiest HS seniors in the country... taking a whirlwind tour of the United States on official visits to the following colleges in order: Buffalo, Indiana, Purdue, Kansas, and Texas. Two of the best schools in the Big Ten, two of the best in the Big 12, and Carla Helder at Buffalo. Meili's a 2005 NISCA All-American, a two-time Senior Prequals Finalist (top 12) two Summers in a row, a West Nationals Qualifier, a "former" 5A State Recordholder, and with all that said, the best is yet to come. She matches anyone in the United States with DD on 1M (105b, 203b, 303b, 305c, 403b, 5134d, 5333d), few divers at 2004 Olympic Trials had the DD that she has on 3M (105b, 205b, 305b, 405b, 5152b, and an occasional 107b), and the even better news is... her work ethic and solid personality will add to any college team. Oh, and by the way, her academics speak volumes about her as a person... she expects excellence in everything that she does. I know that she is looking at some very impressive schools for unofficial visits as well, so I know she will end up someplace challenging and exciting. Good luck to Meili in her last year with Sagebrush Diving... we know it will be something special. Check out the website that she and her dad put together... http://www.meilicarpenter.net It includes videos of all her dives, and many of her recent meets. Also includes her transcripts. This site is an A+ in her marketing class (if her dad hadn't helped out on it).

09/01/05: Sagebrush Diving Starts New Season with Great Expectations. Yes, it was an EXTREMELY successful season for our team and the many great divers that we train with. Will be posting a season highlights page for our team members soon. We welcome any and all divers for an exciting 2005/06 season. Big things are coming at Sagebrush... Stay tuned.

8/19/05: Colorado Cup stays with Sagebrush Diving. RESULTS Charlie Jones, Cody Engstrom, Nick Siegler, Cassidy Lynch, and Meili Carpenter were double winners for Sagebrush. Also in action for Sagebrush were Michael Convey (2nd on 1M), Jerry Molsberry (1st on 1M, 2nd on 3M), Kenny Rhoades (1st on 3M, 2nd on 1M), Coach Kev (1st on 1M, 2nd on 3M), Bill Keating (2nd on 1M, 1st on 3M), Joe Keating (3rd on both boards), Tiffany Maple (2nd on 1M, 1st on 3M), Erin Lionberger (1st on 1M, 2nd on 3M), Andrea Rhea (1st on 3M, 2nd on 1M), Kelly White (1st on 3M, 3rd on 1M), and Brandi Gonzales (5th on 1M). Thanks to the Loveland Boardworks team for making it down to hang out with us for one last afternoon this Summer. Happy Summer to you all. Sad to see it end, but Cassidy Lynch moves on to University of Buffalo with Coach Karla Helder. You are in great hands, Cass. We'll miss you. ~~~ Coach Kev

08/11/05: Linda Wagner (formerly of C&B Divers and Sagebrush Diving) Finals at 2005 Senior Nationals, finishing 6th overall in Women's 1-meter. Wagner spent 4 1/2 years at Iowa State, then moved down to Texas to train with Charlie Casuto at Alamo Area Aquatics, and finally found her way to Matt Scoggin's program at Texas. She was ranked 7th going into finals (top 8 final). How totally cool. Linda led briefly in Finals, starting off in 1st with a 203b for 8's (actually received a 9!!!), then followed with a 403b for 5.5's and 6.0's that dropped her to 4th overall. Her next dive (105b) went down for 6.5's and 7.0's, keeping her in 4th. Her second-to-last dive (303b) went down for 6's and 6.5's, putting her in a position to medal (top three), and she was 1.6 points out of third. Unfortunately, her last dive (5233d) scored 5's to 5.5's leaving her at her final spot of 6th. Way to go, Luscious (silly pet name)!!! Your dreams are beginning to be realized. Keep working hard. Other than Kimiko's national and international accomplishments, I believe your finish at this year's Senior meet is the highest at Senior Nationals of any Colorado athlete in recent history. RESULTS

08/11/05: Coaches Safety Trainings (Arizona and Denver) and DIVE SAFE (Denver only) announced for the Fall 2005. See link on the left, right below the CLICK HERE for USA DIVING MEMBERSHIP link. If you need to recertify, please go to usadiving.org right away, and register for one of these classes in the Fall.

Looking at all the Senior National results, it was the Juniors that did all the damage. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that the Senior National Team Competition was dominated by the Junior National Team Champion, The Woodlands Diving Team. Congratulations to Kenny and Bob (and Adam, who recently moved to a new position with Purdue Diving). SENIOR RESULTS

08/03/05: Cassidy Lynch finishes 16th in the nation on 1-meter, while Nick Siegler finishes 18th in the nation on 1-meter. Congratulations to them both. They both qualified for Summer Nationals for the first time in their diving careers, and they both knocked off more than a handful of national divers at the same time. While Cassidy moves on to what promises to be a successful Division I diving career with Buffalo Head Coach Karla Helder, "Niko" has many years ahead of him on the Junior (and someday Senior) circuit. JUNIOR RESULTS

Sagebrush Divers Cassidy Lynch and Niko Siegler (Nicholas) in 2005 Speedo Nationals action in North Carolina, joining other Colorado athletes Douglas "Doogie" Cohen (MHDC), Kevin Moore (MHDC), Sean Moore (MHDC) and Taylor Sishc (LBW). Sadly, our buddy Aaron Feight is recovering from surgery on an injury sustained at Junior West Championships, and while he qualified to 2005 Junior Nationals, he will not be making the trip. Good luck to all of you, and good luck to all other divers in Colorado in making the next year of training pay off. Congratulations also goes to the only Senior Nationals qualifier training in Colorado, SEAN MOORE of MHDC. Good luck during your two weeks in North Carolina. Congratulations to Meili Carpenter and Cassidy Lynch, who were the only other competitors training full-time in Colorado making an impact at the senior level. See how they placed below...

07/25/05: Cassidy Lynch and Meili Carpenter in Senior Prequal Action in Pittsburgh. Cassidy was 7th after the first round of optionals on 1M, while Meili was in 8th after optionals. Cass ended up 9th overall on 1-meter, and Meili ended up 10th on 3M. The next day, Meili just missed Nationals on 1M, knocking off some pretty big names again. Cassidy had a rough one on 3M, where coaches were asking, "Could we please just start this event over?" Comparing this year's Senior Prequals to last year's, everyone would agree that their results are amazing. We are so very proud of them. Tough crowd, with many of these divers in Olympic-style training programs (training 20-36 hours per week compared to our 8-10 hours). Makes me think that Sagebrush Divers are making very good use of their training time. Results HERE.

07/18/05: Sagebrush Diving competes extremely well at West Championships. "It's nice to know that all of our divers are competing for the top 12 in the Western United States," said an excited Coach Kev. "We're on the brink of something special, I believe." This was the best showing by a Sagebrush Diving team in our history. The top 12 move on to Junior Nationals, and we had a 16th, a 15th, a 14th, and a 13th. The even better news is that we didn't come home empty-handed, with Cassidy Lynch and Nick Siegler making top 12, sending them to Junior Nationals in North Carolina. As one might predict, Meili Carpenter was right there on both boards with a 13th (1M) and 14th (3M)... probably the best West Championships finish for a female diver on both boards from Colorado in a LONG time. Theoretically, that would leave her at being ranked either 26th or 28th in the United States in those respective events. Cody Engstrom and Andrea Rhea also competed VERY well, and both ended up in the top 30 out of 40. detailed results to follow.

07/12/05: Sagebrush Diving continues Normal Practice Schedule as five of their divers compete in Oklahoma City for chance at Nationals (top 12 advance). Cody Engstrom, Nick Siegler, Andrea Rhea, Cassidy Lynch, and Meili Carpenter are going to be competing throughout the weekend at the Oklahoma City Regional Training Center. Kenny Rhoades will be holding down the fort with everyone else. Good Luck, West Championships Team. More details to follow.

Other GREAT NEWS... Kevin Witt (FCDC) will be going full-time as the Colorado State University Head Diving Coach, effective immediately. He called me recently from his new office at CSU. He will also be combining his club coaching efforts with the NORCO Diving club in the Northern Colorado area, making them a force to be reckoned with. Congratulations to Morry Arbini for doing so many great things for the Rams. We are so very excited to have Kevin Witt in charge of such a prestigious program. Exciting stuff... Also, Katie Beth Bryant has been named the head coach at Utah, Jason Baumann has been named the head coach at Minnesota, and half of the coaching staff from the Oklahoma City Regional Training Center (Chris and Natasha) took over the reigns at Nebraska. More exciting stuff for our region and neighbors...

06/27/05: Sagebrush Diving finishes 3rd in the Region V Team Competition. Click HERE for complete and official TEAM RESULTS, and here for INDIVIDUAL RESULTS. Also highlights will be posted, maybe even a picture or two of our weekend. Special Thanks goes to Mile High Dive Club, who we ended up sharing two dinners with and had a great time chumming up with on and off the pool deck. Needless to say, Colorado left a distinct footprint on the results of this meet. Also, Region VI Results can be found here. I hear that Brian Strom from North Dakota Diving ran a perfect meet. Great job Brian.

06/09/05: NISCA All-Americans 2005: Meili Carpenter ended up 34th in the top 100 All-American voting for the 2004/2005 school year. Also, Scott Thalman, who trained with Sagebrush Diving off-and-on during the school year, and dives primarily with Loveland Boardworks, was selected 70th in the top 100. All other Colorado finishers:

Sagebrush Hotel: Courtyard by Marriott Milwaukee/Brown Deer 414.355.7500 (10mins)

Order of Events (June24): (1)13-under Girls1M, Boys3M, (2) 14/15Boys1M, 16-18Boys3M, (3) 14/15Girls3M, 16-18Girls1M, and (4) 11UGirls1M, Boys3M.

Order of Events (June26): 13Utower(all), 14/15tower, 16-18Girlstower, 16-18Boystower.

DEADLINE: Coach Kev needs the following form (CLICK HERE) by Friday, June 10th, if you are planning on going to Summer Regionals. Please note that it needs to be signed and dated on two (2) different pages. Thanks.

05/18/05: Summer Training Hours and Fees... Our training hours will remain the same throughout the Summer, but we will be adding some dryland training hours at Meyers Pool, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30a to 11:00a. Sagebrush Diving is home to the best dryland training facility on-deck, which allows divers the best chance at transferring their new diving skills directly to the diving well. This extra training will be FREE to any active Sagebrush Diver, including all lessons divers that are training at least two days per week, and all the competitive team. These hours will go into effect after Memorial Day Weekend, and will remain in effect until the end of July. If any of these days average less than 4 people over three weeks, we will drop that day from the dryland training schedule. New fees for Summer are posted on our SIGN ME UP page.

Sagebrush Diving will be travelling up to EPIC Pool in Ft. Collins for open warmup on Friday, May 20th (5p to 7p, then dinner after), and then competing on Saturday. Events go youngest to oldest, 4-dives for the youngsters, 6-dives for the 12-older kids. Cost is $15 per event, along with a coaching fee of $10 for the day per diver. Make checks payable to Sagebrush Diving, since I will be paying with one check for our team's entrance fees. Click here for meet details at NORCODIVING.com. There will be medals and ribbons and t-shirts, etc. etc. etc. This is the type of meet that all divers at Sagebrush Diving can and should participate. Should be a fun day.

05/08/05: High School Boys Take Center Stage, but Feight Takes the Cake... Aaron Feight reset the all-time, all-classification record, and in my personal opinion, he has finished what he started. He should be proud of what he has done, and anyone who flirts with this record has his work cut out for him. His list was one for the record books... each and every dive in his list was solid... and it could have been much higher if he was at 4A, where it was reported that several 10's were handed out and the scoring was much more "liberal," per Chaille Huff, the wife of the top coach at 4A, Randy Huff. One can only imagine how high that number would have been. Aaron, you are an amazing young man with a big career ahead of you at University of Denver. Congratulations, Aaron, and we are so excited to see you stay in Colorado to pursue your Division I aspirations.

05/02/05: Sagebrush Diving 18th at West Nationals. Cody Engstrom ended up placing 4th on 3-meter in 11-under to go with his 5th on 1-meter, Niko Siegler ended up 8th on 3-meter in 13-under to go with his 11th on 1-meter, Cassidy Lynch ended up 14th on 1-meter to go with his 15th on 3-meter, Meili Carpenter competed at her first Nationals with a 23rd place finish on 1-meter, Andrea Rhea finished 23rd on 3-meter and 27th on 1-meter, and finally, Erin Lionberger ended up 25th on 1-meter. The team earned 27 team points, placing them 18th at West Nationals. Detailed results are to follow.

05/02/05: Nick Halbach, Jerry Molsberry, and Michael Waterman score well at their Jeffco League Championships. Halbach was a close runnerup in the controversial final, improving 42 points over his previous best, while Molsberry ended up 3rd, after holding a slight lead going into finals. Waterman finished 6th, but his score was 359.75, over 80 points better than his previous best 11-dive score. Congratulations to the three young men.

04/29/05: Cody Engstrom first on the board, Nick Siegler second to score. Cody finished 5th on 1-meter and Nick Siegler finished 11th on 1-meter. Congratulations to them both for scoring more team points at Nationals than our club has ever earned, and they both have one more event to go (their best... 3-meter). We are so proud of them. Saturday, all six divers will be in action, including Engstrom, Siegler, Andrea Rhea, Erin Lionberger, Cassidy Lynch and Meili Carpenter.

04/19/05: Congratulations to Nick Halbach, who just missed winning the Jeffco Invite 2005 over the weekend. He hit the board on his first dive in finals, but nearly came back to win the diving event (missed by only 11 points). What a fighter, and his training is paying off... looking at 2004 League results, he has improved 72 points (and that is with hitting the board on one dive, and in a meet that the scoring seemed to me slightly low). Also, Michael Waterman has improved from his 11th place finish at last year's league meet to this Invite's finish of 6th place (or 5th overall Jeffco diver). Wow! Finally, a new diver to Sagebrush Diving held his score from last season (almost). Zack actually qualified to finals, but was forced to give up his spot in finals to go to work (he works at my all-time favorite restaurant... ask him). At the time of his relinquishing his spot, he was the 10th highest Jeffco finisher, compared to 18th at League 2004. To my knowledge, the only divers to improve their placing/score over last year's Jeffco League Championships were those three and a diver from Bear Creek (Billy Doak, coached by Caty Cook). So despite the low scoring, we are very proud of the improvements these three made.

04/15/05: Congratulations to Meili Carpenter. Since she was unable to attend the U.S. Open qualifying, we staged a qualifying competition to see how she would have performed, and her list of 105b/5152b/205c/305c/405c was shaky, but good enough to qualify for the U.S. Open with a score of 196.20 pts (she needed 195.35 to place 17th or higher). A sidenote, Meili is known for getting significantly better the longer we are at a facility, so her actual US Open competition could have been even better. Oh, what could have been... This Summer should be great fun.

04/13/05: What a great weekend... Cassidy Lynch of Sagebrush Diving competed in the finals of the U.S. Open after qualifying on both 3-meter individual and 3-meter synchronized (with Aaron Feight). While the team of Lynch and Feight finished 6th in the synchro finals, Cassidy was hit by a unknown allergic reaction just before the finals in the individual, making his left eye swell nearly shut (a rash with swelling occurred on his face, neck, chest, stomach and shoulders). A dose of Benadryl cleared him up by the end of the 6 optionals, but it was too late for him to be his normal self, and he ended up finished for the day. What a great weekend for Cassidy. We are so proud of him.

04/07/05: Cassidy Lynch and Aaron Feight qualify for the U.S. Open, to be held this weekend in Midland, Texas. CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS. Last year it was Feight who was the distinguished "last qualifier," eventually finishing last in finals, but this year, the distinction goes to Cassidy Lynch from Sagebrush Diving. It isn't often that coaches get that excited about being the last to qualify. Cassidy qualified 17th (they took the top 17) out of 32 participants in the event. The two divers will compete in a field of the top 24 U.S.A. male 3-meter divers on Saturday morning, and will also be teaming up as one of the top 12 synchro pairs in the country on 3-meter. It was reported that Cass was in 12th going into his last dive (405c, that he missed for 4's, dropping him to his final standing). I have a feeling he will not miss that dive in the main event. Good luck Cass, and good luck to Aaron Feight, who makes this his second showing in the American Cup. Synchro is Friday, and the 3-meter individual competition is Saturday.

04/06/05: Coaches Safety Certification scheduled for Saturday, May 14th, at D.U.'s El Pomar Natatorium. Please print out the following .pdf file, complete the form, attach payment, and send in to U.S.A. Diving right away. Their address is on the form, but it is U.S.A. Diving, 201 South Capitol Avenue, Suite 430, Indianapolis, IN, 46225. You need to mail your form by April 14th, or you will need to pay the late fee for the class.

04/04/05: Cassidy Lynch, Aaron Feight, and Drew Brown are on their way to U.S. Open in the City of Midland, Texas. The three young junior divers competed last weekend in Lincoln, NE, and now take their game head to head with the nation's best senior-level divers. Feight qualified for the final competition in the individual springboard and in synchro springboard in 2004 under the watchful eye of his coach at the time, Charlie Law. This year, he will be competing synchro with Lynch, while all three will be competing in the 3-meter competition. My good friend and respected colleague, Jack Perkins, will be their coach on deck of this prestigious event (U.S. Open has only the Olympic events... 3-meter and platform). Events will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. Men's 3-meter competition is held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Click on U.S. Open for information or up-to-date results. Good luck to our Colorado competitors.

04/04/05: Coaches Invite 2005 Results: CLICK HERE. Scott Thalman (Sagebrush part-timer), Ken Rhoades, Nick Halbach, and Michael Waterman all compete their finest high school score, but have more in store (Ha! I'm a poet and didn't realize it). All four spent the weekend before travelling to Regional meets, and were extremely tired (competitions were on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26 in either Provo, Utah, or Lincoln, NE). Congratulations to them and to all the young men who competed. A fine meet. A special thanks to Meili Carpenter who volunteered her time to run the computer... entering all competitor information and dives... we couldn't have had such a smooth meet without her.

03/30/05: Rhea (1M/3M), Lionberger (1M), Carpenter (1M), Lynch (1M/3M), and Engstrom (1M/3M) qualify to West Nationals, along with Siegler (1M/3M). Rhoades, Neely, Gately, Gonzales, Halbach, Molsberry, Waterman, and Filer finish well. Sellers still to come. Cody Engstrom attended the Salt Lake regional, and came away with two national qualifications, finishing 1st on 3M and 2nd on 1M. Due to a communication error between me and his big brother, Cody competed the wrong dive and finished about 1 dive away from first on 1M. Fortunately, no administrative mistakes were made on 3M, and he won easily. The rest of the team competed in Lincoln, Nebraska, where it seems everybody in the Western United States decided to go. The girls 16-18 group had 37 divers, including more than two handfuls of divers with National resumes, while the 16-18 boys had the same top-heavy group. Andrea Rhea had solid lists on both boards, establishing herself as a 14/15 girl to contend with, while Lionberger did the same, with the exception of 1 little mistake (a long arm comeout on "... one of the most beautiful gainers I've seen a junior diver compete." as quoted by a judge sitting next to me). After her fingers hit the board, all the judges scored her 2's with the exception of that one judge (thanks for the 4.5, which was tossed out). Meili competed well on 3M, finishing 10th, but came back strong on 1M nearly winning (0.9 points behind the champ). She knocked off a national team member, and a handful of girls with national finals finishes. While it wasn't her best day, few could argue that great things are in store for this junior with an unmatched GPA at Fairview HS. Cassidy Lynch kept nearly perfect scores on his reverse dive pike (all 9.5's, except for one 8, which was thrown out), and blew three dives in finishing 4th on 1M, but came back strong on 3M. He led for several late rounds of the competition, but found himself leaning back on a 305c hurdle. The balk cost him about 17 points. He finished the competition 3rd with 491 points, but with the balk factored out, was only a couple points out of second. Kelly Marx was simply unbeatable on both boards the entire weekend. Kenny Rhoades had pretty good days on both 1M and 3M, nailing his 305c on 3M, and finishing in the top 12 on both boards. Nick Halbach found himself among the top 4 divers in the 3M competition before an untimely overtwist knocked him out on his 5th dive, and he just wasn't himself after that. He went on to compete well in his first regional competition. Jerry Molsberry used his vast experience to get top 12 on 3M. Michael Waterman has made huge strides in his diving list on both boards, improving nearly 50 points over Spring Regionals in 2004 on 1M, and exactly 50 points over Summer Regionals in 2004 on 3M. Alyss Filer dove well on both boards, and she is quickly becoming known as "The Ripper" on our team. A little more DD for this gal, and she's going to be unbeatable. Shauna Neely, Brandi Gonzales, and Katy Gately did extremely well on 1M, and I hope it is just a matter of time before they progress to a little more DD, and perhaps some 3M dives. Kylie Sellers travels this weekend to the California regional meet in Cerritos. We hope she has a great weekend. Good luck, Kylie.

3/21/05: Niko Qualifies to West Nationals, Mile High Dive Club Dual Results, and Flip-A-Thon News>>

NIKO QUALIFIES: Nick Siegler travelled to the St. Louis regional competing without his coach against tough squads from Indianapolis Stars, Lightning Diving, Clayton Diving Alliance, City of Midland, North Shore Sharks, Mizzou Diving, and Chicago-based Dupage Diving Academy, and qualified to West Nationals in both events (4th on 1M, 2nd on 3M). Nick will be spending the next week playing in Myrtle Beach... rough life. Seeya in a week, Niko!!!

MHDC Dual Meet: RESULTS Jeff and Mark judged, Coach Kev announced, Bill and Karis ran table. Thanks to all the kids and parents for coming.

F.A.T. 2005: 22 divers and 2 coaches participated in this year's Flip-A-Thon event, with an estimated $8,000.00 raised. Divers will be collecting their pledges and fundraising a bit more over the next couple weeks. Funds will go to paying off the 3M stand that we ordered a year ago, and two new Maxi "B" springboards for the 1M's on concrete stands. Bryce Engstrom's record of 225.5 flips in one hour remains the record for one more Flip-A-Thon, but next time, who knows? Maybe a younger Engstrom will take the record...

Official Results, based on # of flips/twists divers could perform in exactly 1 hour:

(1) Cody Engstrom, 169.0 flips, (2) John Conyers, 150 flips, (3) Nick Halbach, 144 flips, (4) Erin Lionberger, 136.0 flips, (5) Jerry Molsberry, 127.5 flips, (6) Meili Carpenter, 117.0 flips, (7) Michael Waterman, 109.0 flips, (8) Andrea Rhea, 98.0 flips, (9) Bill Keating, 83.5 flips, (10) Brandi Gonzales, 70 flips, (11) Kristin Wilson, 65.5 flips, (12) Katy Gately, 63.0 flips, (13) Cassidy Lynch, 60 flips (in only 10 minutes before he kicked out a little early on his second front 4 1/2 SS tuck, and couldn't finish... see picture above), (14) Shauna Neely, 57.5 flips, (15) Chris Johnson, 48.0 flips, (16) Tiffany Maple, ____ flips, (17) Raleigh Williams, ____ flips, and finally, (18) Coach Kev, 233.5 flips (who doesn't count). Divers who had other commitments, but were part of the fundraising team: Kylie Sellers, Nick Siegler, Tuck Eldridge, Kelly White, Allie Meisner, and Kyle Santarelli.

3/18/05: Flip-A-Thon 2005 is today 4p to 6p, Dual Meet with MHDC is today (6p warmup, 6:30p start), and Regionals in Lincoln, NE, is next weekend. No lessons or practices will be held W-F, March 23-25, due to our entire team and all three coaches in Lincoln, NE. Sorry for the inconvenience. Updates on our Regional divers...

02/25/05: BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!! FLIP-A-THON 2005, March 18, 2005: Calling all divers that use George Meyers Diving Well... it is that time again. We are going for two new Maxi "B" Cheeseboards, and we need 'em quick. All divers can begin asking for donations of any size (checks made payable to North Jeffco Foundation). The two boards will cost just over $5,000, and we still owe a little bit to pay off the balance of our new 3M stand. Coach Kev has pledge forms as well. Our goal is 30 divers to sign up for two 1-hour shifts (one at 4p and one at 5p). To sign up, please call Coach Kevin Sage at 303.949.8331. We cannot have more than 30 divers, so call right away if you want to be part of the F.A.T. Team 2005. All divers must raise a minimum of $250, and they will receive so many benefits from the new diving boards, including the USE of those boards, but also, all participants will get a free commemorative t-shirt with their names etched into the back of it and a Pizza party (after the event).

02/24/05: Engstrom and Utesch in MWC action: Bryce Engstrom had "worst day of my life" on 1-meter in finishing 10th with a score of 230.10 pts. Bryce told me that his 3M and platform will be much better, but his 1-meter has been going horrible for the past couple weeks. We're pulling for him... He gets today off from competing. Amber Utesch finished her first day with a score of 204.25, leaving her just out of the team points with 17th place. Utesch and her teammates started this season "on-fire" at Early Bird Invite, with all three of them (Utesch, Elyse Hall, and Karin Knudson) hanging right with the women from New Mexico and Wyoming. However, the both the NM and WY teams have improved greatly on 1M. Let's hope the CSU team has a better day today.

02/21/05: COLLEGE UPDATES///Three Colorado Men Flexing Big 10 Muscle: In the final dual meet of both team's seasons, Indiana and Purdue had two Colorado divers making some noise, as former Sagebrush Diving's David Hanisch placed 5th on 10M platform (only 12 points behind Ryan Fagan, who finished 14th at the 2004 NCAA Championships on platform), while former Mile High Dive Club's Taylor Roberts placed 4th on 1M. Hanisch went on to dive exhibition on 1M, while Roberts did not compete on platform. Hanisch mixed it up with 4 of the best divers in the nation, achieving his first NCAA Zone Qualifying mark on platform (6-dives for 300 pts). In other Big 10 action, Purdue, Minnesota and Wisconsin showed off two Sagebrush Divers. Again, Hanisch showed he was one of the best in the conference, by adding a 5th on 1M and a virtual 7th on 3M (exhibition), while Ben Raznick (fresh off a devastating back injury and rehab program) placed 9th on 3M and 8th on 1M. PERKO finishes second season... Erin Perko (Denver) finished 14th on 3M and 12th on 1M at the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Championships in her second season as a Pioneer. UTESCH prepares for conference meet... Amber Utesch finishes her first CSU regular season at Air Force Diving Invite, placing 12th on 3M, 13th on 1M, and then 9th on platform (highest Colorado finisher). ENGSTROM hopes to qualify for ZONES... with the MWC Conference Championships looming, Bryce Engstrom is striving to place high for the BYU Cougars and achieve his first Zone qualification on any level. NORTHROP doesn't let car crash stop her, CURRENTLY RANKED #1 in the NATION!!! Julia Northrop, during her holiday break from IIT, was in an automobile accident in Arvada, CO, on her way home from practice at Sagebrush Diving at Meyers Pool. After her car was totalled, and her body is still healing, she's putting the finishing touches on her NAIA National list. Last season, "Jules" became an NAIA All-American by finishing 3rd on 3-meter at Nationals, and is currently ranked #1 in the nation on both 1M and 3M. ROSE going for strong finish... In a season with lotsa highs and lows, Sami Rose will be shooting for the highs at the WAC Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend.

Departing on Wednesday, after school (3P) from 52nd and Wadsworth (right at the beginning of I-76, which takes us into Nebraska). We will be checking in to the hotel late, but will be able to sleep in, as the first warm-up on Thursday is at 12noon. We will dive from 12-1p, lunch from 1p to 2:30p... and then we will return to the board from 4p to 6p. Events will be on Friday and Saturday, and we will be on the road immediately following the last Sagebrush competitor's dive. The following divers will not be joining us as they are competing separately on a better weekend than Easter: Nick Siegler (St. Peters, MO), Kylie Sellers (Cerritos, CA), and Cody Engstrom (Provo, UT). Too bad we don't have anyone going to Texas, huh? Ha! ENTRY FORM (required to be completed, signed on both sides, and a check payable to the meet director for $50 to Coach Kev by Wednesday, March 1, 2005). Meet information and Meet Director information:

02/17/05: Congrats to Meili Carpenter, achieving a new State Record for 5A Girls... unfortunately, it was later eclipsed by 3-time 5A State Champion, Jess Andrus of Poudre HS and Fort Collins Diving Club. Meili's list: 103b, 105b, 5134d, 301b, 303b, 5132d, 401b, 203b, 403b, 5233d, 201b (scores on this last dive with her total score pictured below):

02/17/05: Girls finished, Boys just beginning... The following Sagebrush girls achieved All-American Consideration (CAA) this season:

Meili Carpenter broke the all-time 5A State Record with 527.85 at State. Nuff said..

Erin Lionberger was ranked 4th or 5th in 4A all season long, and broke Kimiko's 6-dive and 11-dive records at Longmont HS in her first meets. Way to go Erin.

Andrea Rhea shattered her own Skyline records, and was ranked 3rd or 4th all season long in 4A. She was sick all week before State (Kylie got the bug from her). Finished 4th at State, but like Kylie, was noticeably weak. Theoretically, could have finished 3rd as the 2nd place diver hit her toes on the board on her reverse twister and should have received 2's, but instead received 5 1/2's and 6's (a 25-point gift). Great job, A-Rhea!!!

Kylie Sellers shattered her own Ralston Valley records and was ranked #1 most of the season in 4A... finished 3rd at State with a 102 temperature after spiking at 104 on Thursday and Friday and losing about 10 pounds. Almost failed an inward dive pike early in the contest as her body was so weak, but finished only two points away from 2nd place. Received 1's and 2's on a dive that she regularly receives 8's and 9's (a 27-point difference). Easily would have been 2nd in the contest considering the above facts. What a champion!!!

Now for Da Boys!!! The following Sagebrush boys take the stage: Nicholas Halbach (Sophomore at Wheat Ridge HS), Cassidy Lynch (Senior at Legacy HS, verbally committed to Buffalo on a diving scholarship, 2004 NISCA All-American #40 out of 100), Jerry Molsberry (Junior at Pomona HS, 2004 Jeffco League Champion and 2-time State Qualifier), Kenny Rhoades (Junior at Brighton HS, 5th at 2004 4A State), and Michael Waterman (Junior at Ralston Valley HS, 2004 State Qualifier). All will qualify for State this season... how high will they climb? Stay tuned...

02/12/05: Sagebrush Divers have banner day at State Championships... probably the best day we have seen as a group. The results speak for themselves, but before I talk about our divers, I can't say enough about Jess Andrus. After our very own Meili Carpenter put an exclamation mark on her best list ever by breaking the 5A State Record (formerly held by Megan Balkenbush), Andrus became one of the only girls in State history to win three State Championships in a row, and capped perhaps the best HS diving career ever in Colorado (2nd, 1st, 1st, and 1st). Her last dive, 5333d, was poetry... and power, all mixed into one. Brilliant. Jess dives for Kevin Witt at Fort Collins Diving Club, and his Poudre HS team. Nice job, you two. In 4A, the Sagebrush Divers were headlined by two "sickos," as Andrea Rhea began the week extremely ill, and then gave it to Kylie Sellers. As a matter of fact, Kylie was a "scratch" at one point on Saturday... with a high temperature that had spiked at 104F the day before, but decided to give it a try. Both Andrea and Kylie were wiped out, but fortunately had a good enough list to place 4th and 3rd respectively. Three other Sagebrush Divers were in the mix, as Erin Lionberger (10th), Brittany Moses (13th), and Kristin Wilson (16th) all made it to finals, scoring valuable points for their teams. By far, the best representation our club team has had in our very short existence. Congrats also goes to Christie Kofford who won 4A State (signed with BYU and will be joining forces with Bryce Engstrom in Provo in 2005/06), Lauren Simmons who was runnerup at 4A (dives HS with Randy Huff, and for the Fort Collins Diving Club with Kevin Witt), and Cori Swango (who dives HS with Kevin Sage and John Conyers at Pomona HS, and dives year-round with DU Hilltoppers with Laura Waggoner and David Decker). 5A Results 4A Results

02/10/05: STATE is upon us... Many things are uncertain. By my calculations, the only thing that is certain is Mullen will have a VERY strong 2nd half of the meet and will win 4A State (unless something catastrophic happens like a relay DQ), and the two dive coaches of the year SHOULD be Kevin Witt 5A (two girls certain to finish top 5, four qualified) and Randy Huff (three girls certain to finish top 8, four qualified). Team Championship in 5A will literally come down to the heart of the three teams (Cherry Creek, Fairview, and Ft. Collins). Based on seedings, Creek wins by only 13 points over Fairview, and Ft. Collins is only 14 points behind Fairview. One or two athletes for each of the teams could make the difference. In 4A, Mullen is estimated to win with 262 pts, with a dogfight for second coming down to Thompson Valley (200pts), LaJunta (198pts), Ralston Valley (192pts), and Regis Jesuit (176). A sidenote, the Mountain View Diving Team could score enough points to place in the top 12 in the Team Standings by themselves... Other competitions to watch: 5A 200 I.M. All five of the top-ranked girls (including three from Creek) could win, forcing the champion to eclipse the all-time State record. Also, in the diving competition, Jess Andrus (Poudre and Ft. Collins Dive Club) is undefeated this season, with decisive wins at Coaches Invite and Keith Weiderman Invite... however, Meili Carpenter (Fairview and Sagebrush Diving) is also undefeated. In the only head-to-head competition between the two girls (Coaches Invite), Meili had built a comfortable lead going into the last two dives, but an injury sustained in her second-to-last dive forced a disqualification. Andrus has an edge, as she is the two-time defending State Champion and diving at her home pool. She might become the first diver to win 5A State diving event more than twice in recent times... however, Meili won't go down without a fight. Should be a good battle. The other question in the event is, will Cherry Creek have divers in the top 16, maybe even the top 8? They have one of the best coaches in the State in David Decker, and the meet could come down to that answer. In 4A diving, a handful of girls could step it up. The four favored divers are Christie Kofford (489), Lauren Simmons (488), Jamie Bristol (450), and Kylie Sellers (448), but many others could perform and make it tough (Stephanie Wakefield, Andrea Rhea, Erin Lionberger, Caley Buxton)... Other events to watch... Fairview has a legitimate shot at the National record in the 200 free relay, the all-time 500 free record could go down hard this weekend, as the State Recordholder (Natasha Menezes) is ranked THIRD, and the top three in the 100 backstroke are all under :58.0, which I haven't seen in awhile... and they could all take it down to :54/:55 after it is all said and done.

02/08/05: Sagebrush Divers make impact all over State. Feeling pretty good about our contingency going to State Championships. However, the greatest performance (and perhaps saddest final result) was that of our buddy Allie Meisner, who is a champ in our book. After a long recovery from an ACL knee repair (complete rupture that occurred in her gymnastics career), she began diving again with just enough time to get her 9 practices in for her Broomfield HS diving team. Her only meet of the year was League Championships. After 8 dives, she had 252 pts, and was WELL on her way to qualifying for State. Unfortunately during finals after the execution of her 9th dive, officials noticed that she had a hair tie on her wrist, and issued a disqualification. Everyone was crushed. What a neat little gal, though, and we are so honored to have her on our club team. She was so happy to be competing for her HS team, and we are so happy to have her on our club team. In other news, all Sagebrush athletes have shown massive improvement in their HS seasons... it is always a good measuring stick to see how much divers improve from one year's meet to the next. Great job, girls. The following are the psych sheets for this weekend's meets: 4A 5A

02/08/05: Centennial League Championships 2005... Meili Carpenter (471.2 pts) put an exclamation point on her first Centennial League Championship, winning with a nearly 90-point improvement from 2004. The Garlington sisters finished 2-3 (Christie with 392.3 pts, and Karina with 381.55 pts). In the Junior Varsity competition, it was Justine Salzman, Mary Kate Kelly, and Catherine Childs making it a clean sweep (1-2-3) for the Cherry Creek team. RESULTS

02/08/05: Northern Diving League 2005: I don't have complete results, but our very own Andrea Rhea won her respective League Championship with her first Consideration All-American Score of 407.00 pts. YES!!! Congratulations, Andrea.

02/08/05: 4A Jeffco League Championships 2005: Kylie Sellers achieved her third Consideration All-American score in resetting the 4A All-Time Jeffco League Record. Caley Buxton (MHDC) finished 2nd. Sagebrush diver Shauna Neely finished fourth and just missed State. Her list (quality) is MUCH improved over 2004, unfortunately, the judging was harsh. Alyssa Dukehart-Conti finished 8th. RESULTS

02/08/05: 5A Jeffco League Championships 2005: Cori Swango (TOPS) won her second league championship with a 415.3 pts, with Sarah Cook (Bear Creek), Ali Rose (Arvada West) and Kelly Cook (Bear Creek) trailing. RESULTS

02/03/05: HS League Championships are here. Good luck to all the girls that have trained recently with our team, preparing for their respective league championships, including Katy Gately, Kristin Wilson, Allie Meisner (all from Broomfield HS), Brittany Moses (Niwot), Amber Hanf, Meagan Brozovich, Bernadette Mascanares, Shelby Denney (all from Green Mountain HS), Claire Roscow (D'Evelyn), Katie Cash (Cheyenne Mtn), Kylie Sellers and Alyssa Dukehart-Conti (Ralston Valley), Shauna Neely and Meg Schumann (Summit HS), Erin Lionberger (Longmont HS), Andrea Rhea (Skyline HS), Meili Carpenter and Sydney Jacus (Fairview HS), Lacy Bishop (Boulder HS), Natalie Hansen and Tessa Clarkson (Monarch HS)... man oh man... I hope I didn't forget someone... although if I did, I'm sure I will hear about it... GOOD LUCK GIRLS. You are already winners in our book!!! ~ Coach Kev, Cassidy Lynch, and Meili Carpenter (the coaches)

01/24/05: Many Sagebrush HS Results: Kylie sets new RV record for 6-dives at 270.65 pts, Meili sets new Fairview record for 11-dives with 482.25 pts, Erin achieved her first Consideration All-American score with a runner-up finish at BOCO Invite, Andrea almost achieved her first Consideration All-American score finishing third at BOCO Invite (administrative error that will never happen again), and many other divers in action. More soon.

1/20/05: Sagebrush Girls published in the Longmont Times-Call: CLICK HERE. As if there weren't enough of them, one of our team's best divers made her return to diving last night after a major reconstruction of her knee from a gymnastics injury. Allie Meisner is back, and we are VERY excited about her being able to use two legs to jump with instead of the one. Way to go, girls.

1/19/05: Cassidy Lynch verbally commits to University of Buffalo (NY) on a diving scholarship, making his future bright. Says future coach Carla Helder of University of Buffalo: "Next season, the Bulls will be taking diving excellence to a new level... Cassidy is the cornerstone of that effort. I haven't stopped smiling since I heard he was going to sign with Buffalo." Coach Kev on the verbal commitment: "Training for four years straight with one of the best coaches in the U.S.A. is an exciting future for Cassidy and his family. With one of the best facilities and best coaches in the country, his future will only be limited by his dreams. I couldn't wish for anything better for him. Carla Helder has an amazing history of developing talent along the entire spectrum of excellence. Not only is she a top coach, but a good friend." Cass will begin his career in the Fall of 2005 diving in a limitless facility (1M's, 3M's, full set of towers). Congratulations, Cassidy!!!

01/19/05: New High School Girls Top 10 Diving Rankings released today by CHSSCA. Check em out: 4A Girls 6-dive 4A Girls 11-dive 5A Girls 6-dive 5A Girls 11-dive Top 10 high school girls swimming and diving rankings will be posted at CHSAA.ORG. Congratulations to the Sagebrush girls: Meili (1st 6-dive, 2nd 11-dive), Kylie (1st in both 6-dive and 11-dive), Andrea (3rd in both 6-dive and 11-dive), and Erin (5th 6-dive, 4th 11-dive).

01/19/05: Many Current and Former Sagebrush Divers are focussing on Boulder County Diving Invitational (referred to affectionately as the BOCO Invite) this weekend at University of Colorado. Will reports results here as soon as possible.

01/16/05: Carpenter wins Mountain View Invite (451.4 pts), Sellers wins Jeffco Invite (448.25 pts), Rhea 3rd at MVI (394.8), and Lionberger (211pts) wins dual against Wilson and Gately (???). This was Meili's first All-American Consideration score of the year, while it was Kylie's 2nd. Andrea Rhea achieved her first All-American Consideration in her diving career.

01/03/05: 2004 Highlights of Sagebrush Diving's Best Year Ever will be posted soon. Just a couple of updates. We are trying to set up a USAFA day for Saturday, January 22... also, due to a HS championship meet, we will have no competitive team practice on Friday, January 14. I'm hearing alot of intersquad feedback, "When is the next meet?" Is there anyone out there that is hungry for a club meet in any format within the next 6 weeks? If so, please email me right away, and I will try to set it up. E-mail Coach Kev

12/21/04: AMAZING. Coaches Invite 2004 Update. We are so proud of our Sagebrush divers. Meili Carpenter, Andrea Rhea, Erin Lionberger and Kylie Sellers made a great amount of noise at this year's Coaches Invite. Meili Carpenter, who after 9 dives, had stretched her lead to over 30 points over the closest competitor, and had her two best dives left (5132d and 5134d), was the obvious headline. Unfortunately, due to an injury sustained on her 10th dive, she was unable to finish her list. Interestingly, her diving has improved so much that, even with the two failed dives, her total score improved 30 points from last year. Then, there was Andrea Rhea, who placed 4th this year (20th in 2003). Her list was solid from start to finish, and consistency is rewarded in this type of meet. Unfortunately, she ran out of DD in Finals, which allowed a diver with a full 1.0 DD extra to pass her. Same thing happened to Erin Lionberger, who placed 6th. Erin, who as a freshman, just barely beat out the next-highest scoring freshman in the meet (Jamie Bristol), has three years of improvements ahead of her. I cannot reveal the future with pinpoint accuracy, but I can guarantee that Erin is going to slowly increase her DD to a point where her finesse and DD will make her difficult to beat. Last, but not least, is Kylie Sellers. Her final three dives were the highest scoring in finals, and it made a huge difference. In 15th after the first 8 dives, she gutted out a podium finish (top 8 divers receive medals) by nailing her final three dives, finishing 7th (she finished 25th in 2003). So, the average improvement for the three girls that dove in 2003 (Meili from 9th to arguably 1st, Andrea from 21st to 4th, and Kylie from 24th to 7th) was a wonderful benchmark, and consistent with past year's improvements for Sagebrush divers. Great affirmation going into the Holiday break. Coaches Invite 2004: RESULTS

12/17/04: Sagebrush vs. Sagebrush: Andrea Rhea and Erin Lionberger went head-to-head last night in HS action, Skyline vs. Longmont. While Andrea won with a new school record for Skyline (resetting her own record), apparently both divers dove well enough to win alot of meets. Sounds like it was a great warmup for Saturday's meet. Good luck girls!!!

12/17/04: Thursday, December 23rd, is the Sagebrush Holiday Party and everyone will be asked to attend the 4p to 6p practice. It will be a mix of diving, fun, and pigging out. PLEASE bring treats... side dishes are nice, but desserts... now THAT's what I'm talking about. Also, it is rumored that Santa may stop by.

12/16/04: Sagebrush Divers to compete at CHSSCA Coaches Invite on Saturday. Meili Carpenter (Jr. at Fairview), Erin Lionberger (Fr. at Longmont), Kylie Sellers (So. at Ralston Valley), and Andrea Rhea (So. at Skyline) all figure to be in the mix at Saturday's meet at Mountain View HS. This meet is the premier meet of the year, as it stacks up the best of both classifications (4A and 5A) in head-to-head competition. Good luck to all the girls in the State of Colorado. Results will be posted on Saturday evening at www.sagebrushdiving.com.

12/13/04: Utesch shines in Air Force dual. Amber Utesch placed 3rd on 1M behind her two All-American teammates at CSU, and followed that performance with a list of dives good enough for 2nd place on 3M (their diving team dove exhibition on 3M as the meet result was well in hand).

12/10/04: Meili Carpenter and Erin Lionberger increase on their HS records. In a meet against cross-town rivals, Boulder High School, Meili Carpenter reset her own school record by scoring 291.4 points for 6-dives. Coach Bob Smartt, as quoted in the Boulder Daily Camera: "She broke the pool record by 93 points, and that is amazing in itself. She just obliterated it... It was by far the best performance in Fairview history, and of all the good things we did today, I was most impressed with that." In the same meet, Sydney Jacus scored a personal best 175.15 pts to place second. No word yet on Lacy Bishop. Just north of Boulder, Erin Lionberger scored 226+ points to up her record that she set last week in the first dual meet of her young career. It was a tough dual meet against Mountain View HS, with Lauren Simmons (6th at 2004 4A State), Stephanie Wakefield (7th at 2004 4A State), and Jamie Bristol (who placed second last weekend in the TOPS High Point meet). When asked about how she thought everyone dove, Lionberger admitted, "Those girls are a strong team." Great win for Erin.

12/05/04: For Sagebrush Team Updates on the TOPS High Point meet, check out the following page. It was a great day for Sagebrush Divers... CLICK HERE.

12/04/04: Neely just two points from Summit Invite diving gold. Shauna Neely, a junior at Summit HS, is just a little DD away from separating herself from all the 4A divers in Jefferson County. Shauna dives in the lessons group for Sagebrush Diving, and we're all very proud of her. When she adds the DD, Jeffco divers better watch out. Keep up the great work, Shauna.

12/04/04: Just a quick SHOUT OUT to the Phenomena Diving club. Head Coach Alton Urban took the time to tell me that the club checks out postings on www.sagebrushdiving.com constantly and love to stop by from time to time. What nice feedback. So, here's Coach Kev saying, "Hey Phenomena Diving, I'm honored that you like the website." Sometimes, posting all the stuff gets laborious, but when I hear that kind of feedback, I know it is worth it. So, thanks. If you enjoy what you see, or even if you don't, E-mail us and let us know by clicking HERE.

12/04/04: Thanks, TOPS. What a great meet. Finished before 4p. The TOPS High Point meet went without a hitch, and the divers seemed to have a great time. I'm so proud of the Sagebrush divers... diving in a pool that we never get to dive in, and they pulled off some pretty amazing dives (except for Cassidy, when the board got in the way of a 301b for 8's... 3's will do for now, huh Cass???). Actually, there were alot of cool things that happened for all the teams. Check out the final results: TOPS 2004

12/03/04: MEILI sets another record, while Erin Lionberger knocks Kimiko's name off the record books at Longmont HS. Garlington Sisters Go Head-to-Head. Sellers sets Ralston Valley 6-dive record. This time for Meili, it's her own record that's she's breaking... the 6-dive all-time record at Fairview HS. Her previous record was 254.85, but in the first meet of this junior season, she has raised that to 272.0, with her sights set higher and higher. Another great matchup, this first weekend of HS diving, was a dual meet pitting Karina and Christina Garlington (both from MHDC) head to head. Karina dives for Grandview, while Christie dives for Smoky Hill. The good news is they both had great scores... the bad news is they finished in a virtual tie (Karina at 228.75 pts edged out her older sis' by only 1.2 points at 227.55 pts). Sounds like it was a fun event to watch. Kylie Sellers dove in her first HS diving meet of the season, and eclipsed the old record at Ralston Valley by nearly 20 points. Her score of 254.10 might be signs of things to come (she's only a sophomore). Diving in-between two narrow lane lines with only half of the pool lights on, she overcame all that with a pretty solid list. Her highest score last season for 6-dives was 212.0. Nice improvement. Other divers that I heard about were Dara Marin (Littleton senior and MHDC diver) scored 228.75 pts, Cori Swango (sophomore at Pomona/Faith Christian, dives club with Hilltoppers) who scored 211 pts at Wheat Ridge and Andrea Rhea (Skyline HS and Sagebrush Diving) who scored 205 pts in her first meet. Many of these divers will be going head-to-head in a club meet all day on Saturday at DU. Check out the blurb below...

11/29/04: TOPS High Point Meet (12/4/04): Dive Hilltoppers is hosting the last competitive club diving meet of the calendar year this weekend at the beautiful El Pomar Natatorium in Denver (take I-25 south to the University exit 205, and the diving boards are directly behind that big shiny tower on the DU campus). "Parking is on Buchtel and University. No permit necessary." per Laura Waggoner, Hilltopper diving coach and the meet director of TOPS High Point. They have changed the format of the meet to match that of the Sagebrush Diving Invite, so plan on doing about the same list of dives at this meet. TIMELINE is a guesstimate, so be there WAY early (except for first warmup 7:30a and first event at 8:30a). Here is our ROSTER (tentative, anyone in Sagebrush Diving wishing to dive in this meet, please contact Coach Kev by clicking HERE).

11/29/04: Utesch competes well at UNLV and San Diego State before Thanksgiving, scoring valuable team points for CSU Rams. Also, we actually were blessed with visits from Julia Northrop (IIT), Sami Rose (Nevada), and Bryce Engstrom (BYU) during their Thanksgiving breaks. What a great surprise. Hope to see everyone during Christmas breaks as well.

11/22/04: Hanisch shines at Minnesota Invite, while Northrop shines at Chicago Invite. David Hanisch finished top 8 in every event (6th on tower, 6th in 1M, and 7th on 3M) to help Purdue get ever so close to Minnesota in the Minnesota Invite, a top winter college Division I invitational. In the same meet, Ben Raznick finished 24th on 1M... not sure why he didn't dive on 3M or platform. Julia Northrop reset her IIT school record on 3M with a score of 420 pts (not sure if her 1M was a record as well), while dominating the field at the Chicago Invite. Northrop won both 1M and 3M. Amber Utesch finished 4th on 3M and 6th on 1M in helping CSU compete with UNLV in a dual meet. Also, Caitlyn Kelly is on the radar screen diving at UNLV. She dove in the same meet. Cool. Emily Hanson at Hawaii finished 3rd on 3M and 4th on 1M in a recent dual meet against Pacific CC. Engstrom, Perko and Rose were all idle over the past weekend...

11/15/04: Sagebrush Diving wins 10 individual events and sweeps the Rip Contest to win SDI 2004... Finally. It has been a 5-year reign that Mile High Dive Club has had on Sagebrush Diving, but we finally broke out. Congratulations to all the divers and parents that played a part in this meet. I was on the microphone for a total of 30 seconds during the meet, never had a table issue, all results were accurate, I was able to coach and judge (only had to judge three of the six events)... it was the most pleasant meet for me as a coach thus far. I am excited about the foundation we have set, with only one competitive team member that is a senior (Cassidy Lynch). Also, I want to thank Cassidy and Meili for their great coaching in the past couple months. Great stuff. Some highlights... sit back and read all this good stuff.

Sagebrush Highlights: If we had a game ball, I would give it to Meili Carpenter, who didn't just reset the meet records... she obliterated them. She had exceeded both meet records on her 5th dive (almost did it with 4 dives on 3M) in a 6-dive meet. Still 16 and diving with us since June 2003, she's only going to get better and better. Also, Cassidy Lynch had a breakout performance. My feeling is his diving future is on 3M and Platform, and he showed us why on 3M, breaking the meet record by 6 points. He was only a few points off the 1M record. And then, he went head-to-head with the five best male rippers in the history of CO diving (I'm not kidding, Austin, Hunter, Sean and Kevin Moore, and Doogie are amazing), and Cassidy left no doubt, winning by over 10 points. With solid wins by Cody Engstrom (1M/3M Champion with #2 All-Time Scores), Nick Siegler (1M/3M Champion with #2 All-Time Scores), Sara Malang (1M Champion with #9 All-Time Score), and Kylie Sellers (1M Champion with a #2 All-Time Score), combined with great performances from divers all across the age groups (READ the TEAM PAGE for individual updates), I can't hold back my excitement.

11/11/04: Last Mock Meet b4 SDI: I'm not sure what to say other than Wow!!! I am so proud of this team... they are diving out of their minds, and all I can say is, if the other club teams are diving this well... the nation better watch out. We had a SDI formatted meet, and most of the divers on the team only dove on 1M (of course, Meili and Cassidy are psychotic, so they did 3M as well). All I can say is... it's time for Sagebrush divers to step it up... and they are.

1M Results: (1) Meili Carpenter, SAGE, 260.55, (2) Cassidy Lynch, SAGE, 256.65, (3) Jerry Molsberry, SAGE, 244.20, (4) Erin Lionberger, SAGE, 222.45, (5) Kylie Sellers, SAGE, 219.60, (6) Scott Thalman, LOVE, 216.75, (7) Cody Engstrom, SAGE, 198.30, (8) Kenny Rhoades, Brighton, 196.05, (9) Alyss Filer, SAGE, 180.75, (10) Sara Malang, SAGE, 138.0, and (11) Michael Waterman, SAGE, 130.50.

3M Results: (1) Cassidy Lynch, SAGE, 289.80, and (2) Meili Carpenter, SAGE, 266.70.

11/06/04: College Diver Round-up: Bryce Engstrom, Amber Utesch, Erin Perko, Emily Hanson, Julia Northrop, David Hanisch, Sami Rose, and BenJAHmin Raznick all in action over the weekend.

CSU: Amber last dove in Early Bird Invite (8th on 1M, 6th on 3M): Click HERE.

UNR: Sami competed on 3M and platform at USC HERE. (Also, great job in Las Cruces!!! Click HERE.)

WISCONSIN: BenJAHmin placed 4th on 1M, 2nd on 3M (vs. Michigan) WOW!!! Click HERE.

Other related news: Apparently, Hannah Feuerstein (U of Penn) and Susan Richardson (Navy) have hung up their suits and have retired from the sport of diving. We wish them well in their purSUITS (get it?), and give us a jingle on what you are up to these days. Also, the following divers have finished their 4-year careers and are getting on with life: Linda Wagner (dove 4 years at Iowa State, 2-time Big 12 Diver of the Month, still training with ISU), Johnna Jaynes (dove 4 years at CU) and Melissa Remner (dove 1 year at American University in BETHESDA, right Mel? and 2 years at CU with Cojo). Finally, I heard a rumor that a secret former Sagebrush diver is thinking about starting diving again at a local college. Any guesses? Click HERE.

11/04/04: It took me awhile to find complete results on the internet, but I finally found them. Congrats to Aaron Feight (MHDC), who finished 19th at Junior Worlds in Belem, Brazil. He is the first diver in recent history to earn USA National Team honors training in the State of Colorado. Complete Results of Boys A 1-meter COMPLETE RESULTS

28 attended SWIMposium at Cherry Creek HS, 7 at the AZ training, 9 at the CO training, and 5 at the DIVE SAFE clinic. That's helping out alot of coaches. Way to go, Coach Kev.

10/18/04: What a great weekend, with all divers getting a dose of competition to keep their minds fresh, and the keep diving fun. I think our team did a great job of competing, playing, and encouraging others (despite the travel). Andrea won two golds, but don't forget that Erin Lionberger finished her lists on both boards (a little too late for this meet). Andrea and Erin made it very difficult for the rest of the field, and with Erin's 303c on 3M, it would have made a huge difference in this meet. Meili was Meili... just unbelievable. She had a tough time with the difference in boards, but that didn't stop her. Kylie dove 16-18 for the first time (she doesn't turn 16 til February), and wasn't intimidated at all. Katy dove in her first meet, and I believe this will help catapult her to a new level of training. Cody ran a mile diving in two events at the same time, and then turned around an outstanding performance on 1M in the 13U age group. Nick "Niko" Siegler, simply put, won everything. He is looking good right now, and he's working on a few more new tricks. Finally, Cassidy was a near broken foot away from winning three events as well, but had to settle for only two golds. Solid diving for all the divers. Results are HERE.

(1) Cassidy Lynch 243.45 pts (amazing 301b on 1M), (2) Meili Carpenter 225.05 (5152b for 5's, 305c for 6.5's on 3M), (3) Cody Engstrom 212.85 pts (5132d on 3M for 6.5's), (4) Erin Lionberger, 202.05 pts (pretty solid list, and 303c after the meet was over), and (5) Alyss Filer, 151.05 pts (a huge improvement from the mock meet of 106.55 in September). Divers had three vols (max DD 5.7), and three opts (unlimited DD). One vol and one optional had to be from 1M and 3M. Everybody ended up doing three of each board.

1M: Meili Carpenter, 249.15 pts (rank: 1st), Cassidy Lynch, 241.65 (rank: 6th), Kylie Sellers, 225.9 (rank: 2nd), Jerry Molsberry, 205.05 (rank: 11th), Andrea Rhea, 203.4 (rank: 4th), Nick Siegler, 184.5 (rank: 8th), Erin Lionberger, 173.8 (rank: 10th), Nicholas Halbach, 140.1 (rank: 21st), and Alyss Filer, 106.55 (rank: 36th). It was a great opportunity for Nicholas and Alyss to gain experience in USD, and while our training isn't focused on competition yet, it sure helps everyone keep perspective on what they are training for. Keep trainin'...

28 attended SWIMposium, 7 at the AZ training, 9 at the CO training, and 5 at the DIVE SAFE clinic. That's helping out alot of coaches. Way to go, Coach Kev.

07/19/04: WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS in Wisconsin: Six Sagebrush divers competed last weekend in the Summer Nationals qualifier. While our inexperience showed a little, we came dangerously close to getting two divers (Cassidy Lynch on 1M and Nick Siegler on 1M) to the BIG MEET in Moultrie. Coach Kev was so proud of our team that 5 of the 6 divers average just over 1 year of training (Kylie and Cody have less than one year, Meili one year, and Erin/Cass have almost two years of diving; Nick has been diving for much longer). Big things are in store for these kids, and I'm honored to be their coach.

07/10/04: COLORADO CUP RESULTS: Synchro Diving is HERE TO STAY!!! The Colorado Cup 2004 was won by Sagebrush Diving, but the real winners were the divers that gave Synchro Diving a try. What a blast, and it became a real crowd pleaser. Thanks to Phenomena Diving and Loveland Boardworks for bringing such fun teams, and also to Brett Brinkhoff and his two unattached divers (Brandon Watson and Christie Kofford). They dove great... Team and Individual Event Results: CLICK HERE.

07/06/04: Colorado Cup 2004: All events will now be run on Saturday, July 10th. A timeline of events is currently posted on the Colorado Cup 2004 page. First event (Boys1M/Girls 3M) will begin at 9:00a, followed by the Synchro Events, and finally the Second event (Boys 3M/Girls 1M).

Meili Carpenter, Cassidy Lynch, and Bryce Engstrom traveled to Arizona to try their luck with the top divers in the nation, and came away with a new level of confidence. Meili finalled in both 1M and 3M, while Cassidy and Bryce stayed in contention most of the meet in both events. All three did great for their first Senior qualifier meet, beating many former junior national champs and finalists in the process... It was an honor for me, as their coach, to have other coaches asking, "Who is that Meili gal/Cassidy guy/Bryce dude?"

Well, besides finishing an hour and a half later than anticipated on Saturday and Sunday, the 2004 Summer Region VI Championships was hotly contested, and we had a great look at some of the best junior talent in the United States, with divers coming from all four corners of the USA (Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Washington and Oregon). Plantation Diving brought a strong, young contingent from Florida to win the team championship, with Mile High Dive Club (CO), Tualatin Hills Dive Club (WA/OR), and Sagebrush Diving within striking distance. A special Thanks! goes out to all the teams (from both far and near), and to all the divers and parents who did their best to help keep the meet running smoothly.

Nick Siegler and Kylie Sellers, Sagebrush Diving teammates from Arvada, became Regional Champions at last weekend's Region VI Championship meet at George Meyers Pool. Siegler adds his third regional title to his resume, while Sellers, a relative newcomer to the sport of diving (10 months), won the first of hopefully many. Both divers qualified to West Championships on 1-meter and 3-meter. Teammates Cody Engstrom (1M/3M), Meili Carpenter (3M/Platform), Erin Lionberger (1M), and Cassidy Lynch (1M/3M/Platform) all qualified and will compete in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, during the weekend of July 15-18. Other local divers (from Arvada) that became Regional Champions were Cori Swango (Hilltoppers, Girls 15U 1-meter) and Jess Andrus (Fort Collins Dive Club, Girls 18U 3M). Both divers earned their first regional crowns, as well. Finally, the following divers that trained in Arvada with Sagebrush Diving will be pursuing diving in college:

That's right. Kimiko is going to the Olympics. She won the Springboard Trials, and will compete in Athens with Rachelle Kunkel. We are so proud of you, Kimiko!!! You are amazing!!! It is so cool to have a Colorado athlete in the Olympics... FINALLY. Kimiko had BY FAR the best showing at USA Olympic Trials, winning GOLD on Springboard, BRONZE on tower, and SILVER in synchro platform (teamed with L. Wilkinson). Medalling in every event that she could have (no women's synchro springboard event), nobody came close to her all-around performance. What an amazing athlete. An event-by-event description is below:

Men's Platform: Caesar Garcia won the individual event, securing a nomination to TEAM USA. Kyle Prandi and Mark Ruiz won the synchro. Since Kyle beat Mark in the individual event, Kyle will also compete in the individual event. Congratulations to Thomas Finchum, who placed 2nd in the individual event. Any other year, and he'd be going to Athens. The future looks bright for TEAM USA with Thomas diving...

Women's Platform: Laura Wilkinson dominated the individual event, securing a nomination to TEAM USA. Sara Hildebrand and Cassandra Cardinell won the synchro. Since Sara beat Cassandra in the individual event, Sara will be nominated in the individual event. Congratulations to Brittany Viola, who placed 2nd in the individual event. Like in the men's platform, any other year Brittany would be going to Athens. Also, congratulations to the Bronze medalist, KIMIKO Soldati.

Men's Springboard: Troy Dumais and Justin Wilcock went 1-2 in the individual event, and since Troy teamed up with brother, Justin Dumais, to win synchro, it looks like it will be a CTC sweep of the event. Congratulations to Kenny Armstrong, the head coach of the Centralized Training Center at The Woodlands, TX.

Women's Springboard: KIMIKO Soldati (originally from Longmont, CO) won GOLD, while Rachelle Kunkel placed second. Both divers will be nominated to TEAM USA.

YES! Sagebrush Diving is happy to announce our first All-American divers. Bryce Engstrom (ranked 25th out of 100 selected All-Americans) and Cassidy Lynch (40th) have been named NISCA All-Americans today by the NISCA diving committee. Other Colorado Divers to be selected were Kristin Pitt (12th overall), Jess Andrus (33rd overall), Christie Kofford (92nd) and Karin Knudson (94th overall). On the men's side, Aaron Feight (4th), Austin Barrand (24th), and finally, Andrew Coup (89th overall) also landed in the top 100 rankings. Congratulations to all the CO divers that were considered... Complete All-American Rankings and Selections CLICK HERE (Beat ya, Joelle!!! hehehe)

Sean Moore is selected as the NISCA All-American National Champion (Independent Schools, since he attends the private school, Regis Jesuit HS in Colorado). Independent schools are scored separately from Public Schools. Awesome job. Other selections to follow...

5/30/04: Evening session was much more indicative on how Cassidy and Meili are diving. Both had incredible meets in the Men's and Women's Open 1-meter. Also, congrats to Fort Collins Diving, who's alum, Liz Pike, who dives with SMU coach Jim Stillson (Mustangs in the Sun), WON the Women's Open 1-meter. She missed nothing. Awesome. Complete Results in the Meet Results section... Click HERE

Morning session: Very fancy diving goin' on today. Meili did a fantastic job on her 203b, 403b, and 5132d, as well as her first two vols (103b/201b), but a low-finishing 105b, and her 303b finishing VERY vertical... unfortunately, it STARTED very vertical and the board got in the way of a rip entry!!! She ended up with a virtual fail dive on the scores, but that should fire her up for the Women's Open 1M tonight. Cassidy had the perfect boardwork on his 305b on 3M... unfortunately, at the beginning of the takeoff, he tried to tell the judges that he wanted to change it to "C", but they didn't hear him say it. (hehehe). The rest of his dives were great, particularly the two best... his 5235d and 5335d. Money is all I gotta say. He ended up 11th. Somebody hit the fast forward button, these two are going to be ready for Regionals.

5/29/04: There we go. Meili and Cassidy both dove much better today. Cassidy was 3rd after optionals on 16-18 1M today, and ended up 6th with a 388. Very respectable, and he knows that he will get better and better with time. Nice job Cass. Meili only missed her 205 and 305c, but everything else went in for 4's to 6's, leaving her in 18th place (out of 31). Yes, they could've done better, but I'm very happy for them. Cassidy dives in the open 1M later today (only optionals, so this should be good).

5/28/04: Wow, what a day. Meili missed all her money dives, put in her 405c very well, and landed her back twister pretty well, but the bottom line, she finally has the senior-level experience under her belt. Unfortunately, she had a rough day while many of the women in the event are less than two weeks away from Olympic Trials. 'Nuff said. Cassidy did well for his first senior event, but the competition (this being a Quadrennial year and all) was a very tough crowd. Many of the men in the event call The Woodlands home, and most are going to Olympic Trials in some capacity. He placed 12th out of 17, and wished he could have a couple dives back. Neither here nor there... they both now have an experience under their belts that will drive their training over the next couple months. Results will be posted tomorrow...

5/27/04: All we (Cassidy, Meili, and Coach Kev) can say is, Sweet Facility in The Woodlands. First competition for both Cass and Meili will be tomorrow night. Both divers will be competing against some stiff competition in the Men's and Women's Open 3M preliminary competition. Top 8 qualify for quarterfinals. If either of them qualify, they will match up head-to-head with one of the top 8 divers, and compete another list. If they win the quarterfinal, the top 4 will be paired two-by-two against each other. The two divers that win that event move on to finals on Sunday, where the two divers will throw a full list on 3M (opts and vols) head-to-head. Should be some exciting diving...

5/26/04: Sagebrush Diving also welcomes Brighton Diving star Kenny Rhoades. Like Andrew, Kenny will be training with us parttime starting today. Kenny has qualified for 4A State Championships, finishing as high as 5th in the 2004 4A State meet. Kenny (along with Andrew and Ethan) were instrumental in earning Coach John Strider 2004 4A Coach of the Year honors, and we're glad to be his "home away from home" diving club. Welcome to the team, Kenny.

5/24/04: Meili Carpenter and Cassidy Lynch are gearing up for the Hillary Grivich Memorial Diving Invitational in The Woodlands, Texas. We will be departing on Thursday, and they both will be competing in the 16-18 events as well as the Senior/Open events. Should be an eye-opener for both divers as they both are trying to take their diving to the next level. All other divers on the team are focusing their training on Region VI Championships (June 25-27), and the Colorado Cup (July 10-11), both meets to be held at Meyers Pool in Arvada. A few divers are also training for the Senior Zone Championships in Tucson, AZ. Also, today was the last day that All-American tapes could be submitted to NISCA. Congratulations to all divers that managed to achieve Consideration All-American, and let's hope that the Diving Committee smiles on Colorado and on Sagebrush Diving (the divers that achieved CAA were: Meili Carpenter, Kylie Sellers, Amber Utesch, Cassidy Lynch, Bryce Engstrom, and Ben Raznick). Finally, Sagebrush Diving welcomes Andrew Coup to our team, who also achieved CAA. Andrew has spent 4 1/2 years training with Brighton Diving and Coach John Strider, where he claimed 4 League titles and a 4A State Championship, and in the process, exceeded the previous all-time boys diving record (held for 25 years by Jeff Carter, Lincoln HS 1979, of 546.85, then reset in the 5A meet by Aaron Feight, Arapahoe HS 2004, of 574.65) and now holds the 4A State Diving record of 551.35 pts. Andrew started training part-time with Sagebrush in March, focusing his training on 3-meter, but will now train with Sagebrush full-time. Welcome!!!

All-American Update: The following Colorado divers have submitted their All-American tapes, and will be considered for All-American status by the National NISCA diving committee. Results should be released by the end of June 2004: Kristin Pitt, Karina Garlington, Jess Andrus, Amy Vaughn, Karin Knudson, Kristie Kofford, Meili Carpenter, Kelly Hauskins, Dara Marin, Kylie Sellers, Aaron Feight, Bryce Engstrom, Scott Thalman, Austin Barrand, Andrew Coup, and Cassidy Lynch. For many divers, redemption comes from the All-American results, as the diving committee for NISCA is made up of primarily diving coaches (not swimming officials, like in HS meets). They actually rank the divers in a head-to-head meet, and their results are much more accurate... which is why many college coaches really watch All-American results. Results of the 2004 All-American Diving meet will be posted at the NISCA website by the end of June 2004. Let's hope the committee smiles on Colorado divers... good luck to all that are participating.

Bryce Engstrom is the first Colorado high school boy in modern-day history to receive a perfect 10 at Boys State Championships. Bryce received a "10" on his reverse dive pike. Ben Raznick received the 5A Colorado Diver of the Year at Boys State Championships. Even Noah Eckert was in on the act, receiving a much-deserved 5A Coach of the Year. Our buddy Andrew Coup (Brighton Diving)... can't get much better than this... broke the oldest record in Colorado on his last dive, landing the best 107c that I've seen, earning him the All-Time Colorado State Diving Record (546.85 pts set previously by Jeff Carter from Lincoln HS in 1979) with 551.35 pts to win the 4A gold medal, and received the 4A Colorado Diver of the Year at Boys State Championships. But his 551.35 was an hour too late, as Noah's standout diver, Aaron Feight, cruised to his first 5A State Championship with a score of 574.65. It was an amazing weekend for Colorado Divers....

05/"10"/04: Congrats to Aaron Feight (5A Champ with 574.65 pts) and Andrew Coup (4A Champ with 551.35 pts)... both eclipsed the previous 546.85 point All-Time Boys State Record (standing for 25 years), and Feight re-established the All-Time and All-Gender mark, previously held by Sarah Law (Ponderosa, 570 pts). Also, congrats to Bryce Engstrom, who dove well-enough to land in the top 10 All-Time in Colorado HS Boys State Championships history. He is 7th All-Time. Bryce is the first diver in recent history to earn a perfect 10 on one of his dives (301b). And finally, congrats to Ben Raznick and Andrew Coup for receiving the Colorado Diver of the Year in their respective classifications, and Noah Eckert and John Strider (Brighton HS) for receiving the Colorado Diving Coach of the Year in their respective classifications. Awesome...

5/05/04: Congratulations to Cassidy Lynch, highlighted in today's Broomfield Enterprise. Read the story HERE... great job, Joe Chirico, at www.usadiver.com. Somehow, he knew about the story before me! How'd you do that, Joe?

5/04/04: It's here. HS Boys State Championships. So many divers are in a position to leave their mark in the record books. Will it be Aaron Feight (has scored over 550 in every championship meet of the season, and just over a weekend ago won West Nationals in San Antonio, ranked #1 in 5A)? Will it be Bryce Engstrom (has scored over 490 in every championships meet of the season, and was by far the best 16-18 performer in San Antonio next to Feight)? Will it be Sean Moore (the most experienced competitor of field, with two national titles to his credit, the diver with destiny on his side with his father being a former Olympic diver)? Will it be Cassidy Lynch (19 months of diving to his credit, perhaps the least experienced diver in the field, and currently ranked #2 in 5A). Will it be Andrew Coup, the diver with the highest DD in both the 4A and 5A field, and the most diving experience in the 4A field? Big names are all over the place, and any one of them could step it up and put 11 dives together... Wait and see... there might be a surprise or two in Northern Colorado. Here's the schedule:

05/01/04: Jerry Molsberry (2004 Jeffco League Champion), Cassidy Lynch (2004 Front Range League Recordholder and League Champion), Bryce Engstrom (2004 Skyline League Runner-up and new Broomfield HS record with 498 pts), Ben Raznick (2004 Centennial League 4th place), and Michael Waterman (2004 Jeffco League Finalist and new Ralston Valley HS record) highlighted the day for Sagebrush Diving. Congratulations, boys!!! Next up... State!!!

04/27/04: Ben Raznick (Boulder HS) is signing a diving scholarship and NLI with the University of Wisconsin (Big Ten Conference). Raznick recently competed at West Nationals in San Antonio, and is ready to finish out his high school career with League Championships and State Championships in the next two weekends. Ben looks forward to training and competing on 1M/3M/10M for the next four years with the Badgers!!! Congratulations, Ben. We all are proud of what you do.

4/26/04: Welp, we didn't score any points on the final day of the championships, but our 12 points scored on the previous two days were good enough for 27th place in the West National Diving Championships in San Antonio. Congratulations to all the divers. Also, a special congratulations goes out to Bryce Engstrom who will now "age-out" of junior competition. Bryce ended his junior diving career by nearly breaking into the top 12 at Nationals (placed 13th on 1-meter, and missed 12th by only 16 points on 3-meter). Jerry Molsberry added a couple more National event qualifications to up his total to 5, while Nick Siegler has 6 total, and Cassidy Lynch and Bryce both have two total. Allie Meisner (1M), Cody Engstrom (both 1M and 3M) and Ben Raznick (1M) round out the group. More details about our team and their best performance at Nationals will be included in the next team newsletter. Way to go, Sagebrush Diving.

4/24/04: Hey, we're climbing... and so is MHDC. Sagebrush is 19th after Day 2 (with 12 points), and Mile High is further on up in the team standings (26 points). Sagebrush highlights: Cody Engstrom, 9th on 1M, Nick Siegler 10th on 1M, Jerry Molsberry 18th on 1M, Bryce Engstrom 13th on 1M (in a squeeker), Ben Raznick 27th on 1M, and Andrew Coup (Brighton Diving) ended up 26th. Great day for a couple other divers of note from Colorado. Aaron Feight became the first Colorado National Champion of the West National Championships by winning the 1-meter, while Sean Moore placed 3rd on 1M. Jess Andrus ended up 5 points out of 12th on 3M. More fancy diving to come. The last day of the championships features boys on 3M (14-18 years), and girls on 1M (14-18 years).

4/23/04: Wow!!! Currently 22nd at West Nationals... Sagebrush Diving is the first Colorado team on the map at West Nationals, thanks to the amazing diving of Cody Engstrom (11th at Nationals on 3M), and Nick Siegler (10th at Nationals on 3M). Also, Allie Meisner dove in perhaps the most amazing event at West Nationals so far, the 13-U girls 1M. She ended up 28th on 1M, but I was amazed by a couple of back and reverse tuck kick-out progressons and a couple divers' full pike lists (13-U Girls!!!). Allie has quite the future... not a whole lot of time in the sport, and a completely ruptured ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament in the knee) working against her, and she qualified for Nationals in her first attempt. Yeah, Allie. So, that leaves Sagebrush Diving with 5 team points with two full days to go. Tomorrow is the 11-U boys 1M, 13-U boys 1M, 14/15 boys 1M, and 16-18 boys 1M. Sunday, the boys compete on 3M. Stay tuned... Results on-line first at Flip-N-Rip

4/20/04: Well, we're at Nationals and we had two good practices today. Pictures to follow... Good group of kids so far... from our team... and from all the other teams. All seven of our divers (Cody, Nick, Allie, Jerry, Ben, Bryce, and Cassidy), and Andrew Coup... had pretty good days. Have yet to see anyone else from Colorado, but hopefully, they will all arrive on Thursday. ~Coach Kev

04/19/04: Jerry Molsberry wins the Jeffco Invitational with only 10 dives, while Bryce Engstrom and Cassidy Lynch also perform well in the Mountain View Invitational over the weekend. Molsberry had a great surprise. In Coach Kev's absense, Arvada HS recordholder and current NAIA All-American Julia Northrop stopped by the pool to coach Jerry to the title. Commenting on Julia's surprise visit, Molsberry simply said, "it was awesome." Jerry found himself in 4th place (down by just over 20 points) going into finals (he failed his 8th dive, a 5223d), but nailed his final 3 dives for 7's to squeak out the victory. Engstrom and Lynch had a solid meet in Loveland, placing 3rd and 4th, respectively. Engstrom was only a couple points out of 2nd place (Austin Barrand, AHS), while Aaron Feight, also from Arapahoe HS, secured another championship title in his dream HS season. Engstrom also set a new Broomfield HS 6-dive record (306.8 pts) in a meet against Mountain View HS on Friday. Congratulations, Bryce.

4/14/04: Today's update... The Pre-National Meet, Denver Post "Best of the Best," Linda Wagner going to San Antonio, and Colorado Diving Big Picture Update. READ ON...

Today, Sagebrush Diving hosted the Pre-Nationals 2004. Meet Info Results

Highlights: To be fair to the divers, our judging was a little tough on them, but then again, that is what we were preparing them for... West Nationals scoring. I wasn't able to get pictures of the divers, but if you have digital images, feel free to send them to me at Coach Kev. Loveland Boardworks had 4 divers compete, Mile High Dive Club had 7, and Sagebrush Diving had 7. Here we come, San Antonio. "The stars at night... are big and bright..." Finish the line, and from what movie?

Also, Denver Post released their "Best of the Best" feature today, and while Fort Collins Dive Club dominated the group (All-Colorado, Karin Knudson, 5A Diver of the Year, Jess Andrus, 4A Diver of the Year, Karin Knudson, and Honorable Mention, Kristin Pitt, who also won the prestigious Coaches' Invite during the season), Sagebrush Diving is proud to have two divers receive Honorable Mention as well. Amber Utesch and Missy Schafer both placed 3rd at their respective State meets to receive honorable mention. Utesch has signed with CSU to dive in the Fall of 2004, while Schafer will be pursuing her gymnastics career at some lucky school (undetermined). The only other diver to be named was Kristie Kofford, who gave Knudson a run for her money in the 4A competition, but fell just short in finals. Congratulations to all the girls named. Your hard work paid off...

Also Also, I heard from Linda Wagner (ISU Senior graduating May 8th) late last night. Linda has been identified as a potential Senior National level diver by Coach Charlie Casuto, and has accepted the invitation to train with his team. She plans to relocate to San Antonio, TX, immediately after graduation, and begin training with Casuto and Co-Coach, Stan Randall. Based on my quick research, Casuto is considered to be one of the best diving coaches in the nation, while Coach Randall, also a great coach, is known in the elite coaching circles as THE BEST spotting coach (ropes) in the world. Good luck, Linda. You'll be in great hands. ~ Coach Kev P.S. Congratulations, also, on such a successful season and diving career at ISU, and on getting the diploma. Just what Texas needs, though... more of Colorado's finest divers, eh?

Also Also Also, Colorado Diving has 26 divers qualified for West Nationals in San Antonio in 39 events, representing 8 Colorado Teams. Congratulations to the following divers and clubs... Good luck at West Nationals...

Hilltoppers (2): Christian Turnock (3M only, not going) Charlie Lippett (1M only, not going)

Loveland Boardworks (4): Andrea Rhea (1M only), Greg Conway (both), Travis Hartman (both), Taylor Sishc (1M only)

Mile High Dive Club (9): Christina Wood (1M only), John Fox (both), Sean Moore (both), Drew Brown (both), Doug "Doogie" Cohen (both), Aaron Feight (both), Robyn Bradley (3M only), Caley Buxton (3M only), Austin Barrand (3M only)

04/12/04: Sagebrush Divers are starting to heat up, and it couldn't come too soon. Meili is finally into her 5152b (out). Bryce has his 5152c (in). Cassidy is a stand-up away from a 5253b (Yep, 3.5 DD). Ben has a star-frame twisting group (5134, 5136d, 5152d, 5235d, 5335d, 5432d). P.S. Those wondering on how Aaron did at American Cup... while he didn't beat too many guys at the American Cup, he is currently (in my book) one of the top 24 men in the nation at the senior Olympic-list level on springboard. He beat some talented men in the qualifying meet, and is only going to get better with more time spent training (has been training non-stop for only two years). From what I heard, he had a very good meet, and gained more experience than he'll know what to do with (Suggestion: Bring it to Colorado!!!).

04/08/04: OK... an update on Aaron Feight. Due to Mike Gowdy being Canadian (eh?), and Mark Ruiz electing not to compete on springboard so that he can more effectively focus on platform, Aaron will be one of the elite divers qualified for the American Cup this weekend in Minnesota. YES YES YES. I can't say that I am surprised... what an amazing young man. Go get 'em Aaron.

04/06/04: 0.15 pts.!!!! That's all that separated Aaron Feight (MHDC) and Jason Coben (University of Michigan). Competing in the qualifying event of the American Cup in Minnesota, Aaron Feight put his best foot forward, putting all his dives in for a 6-dive score on 3M of ~ 284. Unfortunately, Coben took the last qualifying position to the American Cup 2004 on 3-meter, edging Feight by 0.15 pts. Feight shouldn't be disappointed, though. Coben recently set the Big Ten Championships record on 1-meter as a senior at Michigan, and dominated both the 1M and Platform events at the Big Ten Championships to be named Big Ten Championships Diver of the Year 2004. No slouch, Coben also competed in all three events at NCAA's, winning his respective Zone meet on 1M, and placing 2nd on 3M and platform, and at NCAA's, he finished 10th on 3M before placing 16th on platform to earn honorable mention All-American honors. In 2003, Coben was an NCAA Champion (platform, earning him a spot on Team USA's World University Games). Coben is a senior at University of Michigan... Feight is a junior at Arapahoe High School... I would say he has a future in the sport. Congratulations to Aaron Feight... you make us proud!!!

04/05/04: Coaches Invite 2004 was an amazing event. Complete results can be found HERE . The two divers of national prominence, Aaron Feight and Sean Moore, flexed their muscles in the event, but a couple other divers made statements of their own. Feight, a junior at Arapahoe, broke into the national scene last Summer by being the first diver from Colorado in quite awhile to qualify for Senior Nationals (on 1-meter) as a junior diver. He departed this morning to Minnesota, where all of Colorado will be cheering for him as he attempts to qualify for the American Cup, a senior international diving invitational, seen by many as a preview of the upcoming Olympic Trials. Feight's score of 577.4 pts is held by many as THE highest score ever recorded in Colorado high school competition. Good Luck, Aaron (or as he stated to me, "Just pray that I don't throw up.") Aaron owned 5 of the top 10 scoring dives in the contest... then there is Sean Moore. Sean is a multiple time Junior National Champion, making his first appearance in a high school championship event. This young man is destined for greatness. Earning the bronze was Sagebrush Diving's own Bryce Engstrom. Bryce used one of the highest scores in finals (his three dives were second only to Feight, with over 148 pts) to cap off a consistent day. He held 9's on his 301b, and held 6's on his final two dives to leave him the top ranked 4A diver in the State, and gave him a bit more confidence walking into West Nationals in a couple weeks in San Antonio, TX. Engstrom, who dives for Broomfield HS and is one of only two seniors on the podium (top 8), is undeclared for a college, but has visited BYU, Utah, and UNLV. Cherry Creek's divers (4 of them in the Finals) started strong (due to listing 3 straight optionals to start the meet), and Cody Stambaugh (4th) and Hunter Helmstaedter (8th) were able to finish strong. Stambaugh landed one of the top 10 scoring dives in the meet (5134d for 61.1 pts). Austin, Austin, Austin... what can I say, other than, he could have picked up nearly 5 more points had he listed 5335d as one of his optionals. Fortunately, the judges missed the extra twist and scored it anyway, keeping him in 5th place. Austin owned three of the top 10 scoring dives in the meet. In 6th, Cassidy Lynch had a relative off-day, but still made noise. Cass held 7's and one 6.5 on his 305c for one of the top 10 scoring dives of the meet to finish his list, and held 6's or higher on every dive in his list, but remains ranked 2nd in 5A due to his BVI finish. Finishing out the top 8 was Andrew Coup. Coup made some noise of his own, by leading the contest after 5 dives, and holding a strong 3rd place after 8 dives. However, his list unfolded in finals, averaging 3.5's and 4.0's on his optionals to drop to 7th. Other Sagebrush Divers to final (top 16) at Coaches Invite were Ben Raznick (14th) and Jerry Molsberry (15th). 47 of the best divers in Colorado competed in the event.

3/20/04: Coach Kev was treated to a great performance at today's Boulder Valley Invitational, where three Sagebrush divers set each of their high school records for 11-dives (Cassidy Lynch, Legacy HS, 514.05 pts, Bryce Engstrom, Broomfield HS, 497.5 pts, and Ben Raznick, Boulder HS, 439.85 pts), and swept the BVI diving competition, placing 1-2-3. See Meet Results for the complete results, or click here for the Summary. Special Thanks to Hannah Feuerstein and Meili Carpenter with helping run EZMeet; it made a huge difference in catching table errors in 5 of the 7 varsity divers. Way ta pitch in, girls...

3/15/04: DU Hilltoppers and Sagebrush Diving will be hosting meets during the 10 days before West Nationals. For some of you, it will serve as a good warmup... for others, redemption. Here are the details:

Pre-National Warmup: Wed., April 14: 5p warmup, 6p start (USD list, either board)

3/09/04: Cody Engstrom, Nick Siegler, Allie Meisner, Jerry Molsberry, Bryce Engstrom, Cassidy Lynch, and Ben Raznick have all qualified for West Nationals, making this THE largest West National contingency from Sagebrush Diving. West Nationals will be held in San Antonio April 23-25, 2004. See the Team Updates page for more on our exciting Region VI Championships. Complete results can be found at our Meet Schedule and Results page.

3/05/04: Julia "Jules" Northrop achieved NAIA All-American by placing 3rd on 3M at NAIA Nationals today at Lawrence, Kansas. YES YES YES!!! She called me with 3 dives to go, and she was in 3rd place. Next time we see her, it is HUG time. Awesome, Jules.

3/03/04: Julia "Jules" Northrop finalled at 2004 NAIA Nationals placing 6th on 1M, and her best event isn't until Friday (3M). I can't tell you how proud I am of my buddy Jules!!! Wahooooo!!!!! Jules has been through alot, and I am not surprised at her success. Also, I read one of the most flattering comments in the Daily Camera yesterday by the head swimming coach of Fairview HS, Bob Smartt. The Daily Camera was announcing their All-Region Swim Team, and Coach Smartt told the reporter, Chris Shelton, the following: "1-meter Diving-Meili Carpenter, Fairview. The sophomore passed 10 competitors in her last three dives to finish sixth at state to go from contributing one point to adding 13 points to Fairview's team total. Fairview won the team title by only two points." It is no secret... our team makes me BEAM with pride.

3/02/04: Region VI Spring Diving Championships Update... 18 teams... 113 divers... 10 States.

2/25/04: We had a dry run today at Meyers Pool, with 22 RMDA divers competing and training on the updated facility. Feedback, everyone seemed to like the new boards, and the new surfacing of the deck, and the new lighting. MEET RESULTS P.S. With concurrent events, our diving was completed in 75 minutes running two manual tables (approximately 30 seconds per dive). Impressive... imagine what it will be with Penny Cano and her computer network helping us run the meet.

2/24/04: Good luck this weekend for the following Sagebrush divers who will be competing at their respective college conference diving meets: Linda Wagner (ISU in the Big 12), David Hanisch (Purdue in Big Ten), John Conyers (Denver in the NIC Championships), Sami Rose (Nevada Reno in WAC Championships), and Susan Richardson (Navy in the Patriot League Championships). Also, we wish Julia Northrop well in her NAIA Diving Nationals during the weekend of March 5-7, 2004 (she's currently one of the top ranked divers in the NAIA, 11th on 1M, 9th on 3M). We hope you ALL kick some booty... Up to date results:

Linda Wagner ISU Big 12 Conference 1M: 3rd 3M: 10th Platform: 8th

Sami Rose UNR Western Athletic Conf 1M: 16th 3M: 17th Platform: 13th

David Hanisch PU Big 10 Conference 1M: 16th 3M: 20th Platform: 17th

John Conyers DU National Independent Conf 1M: 11th 3M: 10th Platform: 9th

Julia Northrop IIT NAIA Nationals 1M: 6th 3M: 3rd (NAIA All-American on 3M)

2/23/04 Update: TEAM USA has arrived. Laura Wilkinson won GOLD on tower, and the USA Synchro Teams all earned qualifications to the 2004 Olympics in Athens. We couldn't have asked for better results. Now, to pick the Olympic Team, the focus of USA Sr. Diving turns to Minnesota for the American Cup Diving in April, and then the subsequent Olympic Trials at Doug's Place (Rec Plex in St. Peters, Missouri) in June. Go, TEAM USA. The FINA World Cup also featured a near-perfect execution of the hardest dive currently being done, a 5255D on 10M, a back 2.5 somersaults with 2.5 twists. See complete results at the following location: FINA WORLD CUP 2004

TEAM USA at FINA WORLD CUP 2004: The FINA World Cup 2004 is underway, and TEAM USA is making its impact felt. Both Synchro Teams that competed on Wednesday have qualified for finals, where they will lay it on the line for the Stars and Stripes... and give USA Diving the qualifications it needs to send synchro teams to the Olympics. Also, Laura Wilkinson finished prelims in 8th on tower, but heated up in semis by scoring the highest points to move up a place for finals. Heat is a factor for the divers as the pools' heating system is broken, leaving the air cold, and the hot tubs not-so-hot, leaving some of the female divers in tears. Theoretically, Laura will go into finals with the highest carryover score (FINA drops the score from prelims), making her one of the favorites to medal. Good Luck, Laura. Keep the HEAT on in finals.

02/14/04: What an incredible day for Colorado Diving. First, I find out that a couple of old buds (Keelan Smith and Erin Perko at University of Denver) finalled on 1M and 3M at the Sun Belt Conference Championships (I had the honor of coaching Keelan last season, and of coaching Erin for much longer than that). Then, a pluthera of Sagebrush divers made some noise at HS State Championships. First, kudos to the two-time State Champs, both hailing from Fort Collins Dive Club: 4A State Champ Karin Knudson, Estes Park, and 5A State Champ Jess Andrus, Poudre. Coach Kevin Witt (FCDC) should be very proud. I was treated to watching the 4A competition, where Missy Schafer (Liberty) and Kylie Sellers (Ralston Valley) placed 3rd and 5th respectively. Sellers, one of only three freshmen who qualified for 4A State, has arguably the least amount of diving experience out of all the divers in both classifications, but you'd never know it. She hit all her dives for 5 or higher, and smiled alot. Schafer was the same way, giving State Diving her final shot, and was less than 30 points out of first place after 8, but just couldn't catch the leaders. In the 5A competition, Amber Utesch and Meili Carpenter were neck to neck with the leaders... however, Meili and Kristin Pitt had disaster strike in the earlier rounds... on the same dive (5333d). Meili failed hers (she was in third at the time behind Andrus and Utesch), and Kristin Pitt virtually failed hers (balk and then YUCK). After playing the catch-up game with Kristin, Meili climbed back to 6th (from 16th), and Pitt climbed back to 2nd (from as low as 20th, I believe). Simply incredible. Utesch missed one dive in finals, but held on for 3rd to finish out her HS career. The other divers that I was so proud of were former Sagebrush and high school divers Cori Swango and Ali Rose. Swango (7th) used her experience to walk onto the podium as a freshman for Pomona, and Rose (12th) put together one of the best competitive lists in her career to sneak Arvada West into the Team Standings. Hannah Feuerstein (Boulder) and Elane Spivak-Rodriquez (Fairview) struggled through the first round. Hannah failed her 5223d to get knocked out of the competition, while Elane was 21st (trailing Pitt by only a couple points at the time of the cut). Bottom line, I was encouraged with the future of diving in Colorado. So many Freshmen and Sophomores are developing some serious diving lists. It is an honor to be part of it all...

02/11/04: Congratulations to Hannah Feuerstein, Boulder HS, who unexpectedly was pulled into State based on her DD and score at her Centennial League Championships. Way to go, senior. That's the way to finish your career. Have a great time at EPIC...

02/09/04: Good luck to Erin Perko, Sagebrush diver at University of Denver, who competes this weekend at the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Little Rock, Arkansas. Go Erin... Also, good luck to Keelan Smith and John Conyers, both seniors at DU who I also had the honor of coaching for a brief period in their careers.

02/08/04: Coach Kev attended three league meets on Saturday, and was treated to some great diving performances. To start the day, Ralston Valley freshman Kylie Sellers dominated the 4A Jeffco League meet, winning by almost 50 points and breaking the 4A League Record (Jess Andrus, RV in 2002) in the process... 403.4 points, also helping her team win their first league championships. She also achieved her first Consideration All-American list of dives. All this from a diver that has been in the sport 5-months. Yeah, Kylie. Then it was on to the 5A Jeffco Leagues, where two high school divers, Cori Swango and Andrea Esa from Pomona HS, put on a show, going 1-2 and helping their team win their team championship, as well. Esa finished her diving career at Pomona with a State Qual, and she was nominated for Jeffco Swimmer/Diver of the Year. Swango finished with a new Pomona school record (386.95 pts for 11-dives), and was named Jeffco All-Conference... pretty awesome for a freshman. Then it was off to the Centennial League Diving Championships, where Meili Carpenter led from start to finish... well... er... almost the finish, when on her final dive (203b), she hit her feet on the board, leaving her with judges scores of 2 (the maximum you can get when you hit the board), and handing the Centennial League Championship to the deserving Amy Vaughn from Cherry Creek. Carpenter ended up second, achieved her second Consideration All-American performance of the season, and she's saving her best list for State Championships next weekend. To complete the day, Coach Kev called his buddy "Shadow," a diver down south that he rarely sees, and when he does, it is a shadow... you'll have to ask her about that... Amber Utesch had perhaps THE best performance of her life, scoring 466 pts, and walking into State Championships with a very good shot of competing for the title. Amber will be diving on scholarship at CSU next season. Yeah, Amber. Other performances of note... I was simply awed by a couple of performances from the following divers that I don't coach.... first, Sarah and Kelly Cook from Bear Creek... All I can say is, their future is unlimited. Strong, explosive, and competitive. Also, the Garlington sisters were fun to watch... first there is Karina, who was in contention for the title the entire meet, has unmatched height in her dives, and smoked her 303c in finals, achieving her first Consideration All-American performance... however, it was Christie Garlington that most impressed me... talking about a warrior... in finals, she started with a less-than-ideal 5132d, but came back with a 303c that held 6's, and finished with a 103b that scored an 8. No big deal, you say? Here's the good news/bad news... Good news, the judges didn't see or here it... Bad news, she hit her hand on the board on her 303c. The good news is, she would have only received 2's on the dive if they caught it... the bad news, it still wasn't enough for the young diver to achieve her State Qualification. She needed 350, she got 348... let's hope the required 24-diver field at 5A State doesn't fill up, and the deserving diver will be pulled in. Warriors belong at State.

2/05/04: Meili Carpenter finally did it. Her final dual meet, and she has rewritten the 6-dive record book at Fairview with a new high score of 254.85. Additionally, her list is unmatched in Fairview history, with the following dives incorporated into her list: 105C or B, 203B, 303B, 403B, 5132d, 5134d, 5233d, 5333d, and sometimes a 5225d (depending on which twisters are going particularly well that day). She set the Boulder County Invite meet record with 413 pts, and then Meili was again selected as Athlete of the Week by the Boulder Daily Camera. WOW is all we can say for the sophomore at Fairview HS.

1/23/04: ERIN PERKO, a freshman at the University of Denver, recently took second place on both boards, achieving her college best scores in the process... 209 on 3M, 206 on 1M. Yeah, baby...

1/21/04: MEILI CARPENTER selected as Athlete of the Week by Daily Camera... Meili has scored consistently in the 230's all season long, and was one of two Fairview athletes to win in a recent dual meet, knocking off the THEN #1 team in the State (Ft. Collins). Waytago, "Air Meil..."... Now a "Consideration All-American"

12/20/03: Our buddy, Linda Wagner, originally from Ohio, but spent the majority of her club diving career with C&B Divers (with Coach Barb Ambrozic), and trained with Sagebrush for less than a year, was awarded her second career Big 12 Diver of the Month award. Her award was given on the heels of her performance against Interstate Rival, University of Iowa, where she swept both boards, and set personal bests in both contests. Her performance on 1M left her 2nd on the all-time top ten list at ISU, and she is now ranked 1st on 1M and 3rd on 3M in the Big 12. That's hot stuff!!!

12/02/03: It was reported on FlipnRip.com that David Hanisch is performing VERY WELL in his senior season at Purdue University. Dave competed at the Purdue Invitational, and dove against some familiar names from the RMDA club scene. Looks like Dave's hard work during the Summer, and fantastic college coaching by Coach Wenbo Chen so far this season, is paying off. Go Dave.

11/20/03: Fundraising for the 3rd FlipAThon started yesterday, and we are well on our way to raising $12,000 to purchase a new springboard for 1M and a new 3M diving stand. All the club divers are working hard to raise funds through North Jeffco Foundation to purchase this new equipment. Kimiko Hirai Soldati (one of the top female divers in the world, and a Longmont, CO, native) will be here on Friday, December 5th, to help us celebrate the actual event, and it is reported that she might be making a sizable donation to the cause. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to improve the best public diving facility in the State of Colorado. Go Colorado Diving!!! Also, we were happy to announce yesterday that Sagebrush athlete Amber Utesch, Air Academy HS in Colorado Springs, was signed to a National Letter of Intent and athletics scholarship to represent the CSU Rams starting in the Fall of 2004. Congratulations, Amber. Not to be outdone, Julia Northrop, formerly of Arvada HS, competed in her first meet for Illinois Institute of Technology, and in the process set both 1M and 3M school records, and qualified for NAIA Nationals in 2004. That ROCKS!!! Go Sagebrush Diving.

11/08/03: Well, the sport of diving is growing up in Colorado... fast. The Sagebrush Diving Invite 2003, the fifth annual, saw a burst of growth... divers were throwing legitimate dives from every corner of the FINA dive list. Sean Moore with his 5237d on 3M (this dive has a future if Sean decides to keep it), and he's 14. Aaron Feight, who recently qualified for Sr. Nationals on 1M, broke both 1M and 3M meet records... but was challenged on both boards. Nick Siegler was the first diver in the 5-year history of Sagebrush Invite to win 4 events (winning both 11-under 1M and 3M resetting both records, and winning 13-under 1M and 3M). Jess Andrus throwing a 5136d on 3M (pretty sweet). Meili Carpenter, a 15-year-old with a full pike list on 1M, and a full 2 1/2 list on 3M... and she's been diving about 1 year (and only since June 2003 with Sagebrush Diving, only HS before that). Seven of the possible ten boys' age group records fell. And we saw some of the most incredible "improvements" from the 2002 meet, including the following divers that saw over 30 points of improvement from their last Sagebrush Invite (30 points is essentially a whole dive of points, and in a 6-dive list, that is SIGNIFICANT):

Quantifying Excellence!!! 30 pts improvement or more since Sagebrush Diving Invite 2002:

Cassidy Lynch (SAGE) 72.4 pts on 1M, 88.1 pts on 3M (160.5 pts improvement on both boards)

Aaron Feight (MHDC) 43 pts on 1M, 73 pts on 3M (records on both boards, and 116 pts total improvement)

Hunter Helmstaedter (TOPS) 8 pts on 1M, almost 30 pts on 3M (38 pts on both boards)

Nick Siegler (SAGE) 16 pts on 1M, 17 pts on 3M (resetting his records in both, and 33 total pts)

Sean Moore (MHDC) 45.5 pts on 3M (a new record, but only 3 pts total improvement)

Cori Swango (TOPS) 5.85 pts on 1M, 33.65 pts on 3M* (nearly 40 pts on both boards since 2001)

It is amazing to be a part of this incredible improvement in the sport of diving, and to see so many Sagebrush athletes on that list. Also, a point worth noting, three divers and three clubs made 2003 their 5th year of competing at the Sagebrush Diving Invite (all were presented with plaques to commemorate their commitment to the sport of diving). Congratulations to Amy Vaughn, Kevin Moore, Sean Moore, Mile High Dive Club, DU Hilltoppers, and of course, Sagebrush Diving. Let's keep it going. Go Colorado Diving.

1/29/03: Well, what'd'ya'know? The facility is now complete with two 1M's on concrete, two 3M's (one new), a trampoline with overhead spotting rig, a dryboard, a port-a-pit, and a boatload of stackmats. Between the last update and this update, Sagebrush Diving's training facility has become the best public facility in the State, our team has placed VERY well at most of the diving invitationals that we have competed in. Sagebrush Diving will continue to do as much as it can to continue to grow our sport in Colorado by hosting several meets in 2003, putting a strong emphasis on developmental diving, reaching for higher goals on the competitive side, and looking for further opportunities be innovative. Happy 2003, Sagebrush.

8/14/02: The Sagebrush training facility (George Meyers Pool in Arvada) is due for a facelift, and it couldn't come at a better time. The management of North Jeffco Parks and Recreation District have decided to support installing a new 3M diving board that was donated to the NJPR District (donated by Coach Kev through a great deal worked out with his bud, Barb Ambrozic). At the same time of the install, we will be trashing the old 1M stands, and, as a result of our September 6th FLIP-A-THON, hopefully, Sagebrush Diving will purchase and donate two new short-stands to the district so that we can have them both on brand-new concrete stands (the best and safest diving board construction you can ask for). If you look at the third picture on our team update page dated 7/29/02, our new improved facility will look like that, only the two 1-meter boards will be on brand new concrete and short-stands. GREAT STUFF... time to raise money.

7/8/02: Sagebrush Diving travelled to The Woodlands, Texas, to compete in the Region VIII Championships. It was an entirely different level of diving than we were used to, and we were humbled by the experience. Needless to say, we have much training to do to reach their level, but we are up for the challenge. The days and events were long... and HOT. Results can be found at Meet Results A picture of two Sagebrush divers (Katie Griffith and Erin Lionberger) can be found at the following web location. Thanks Flip N Rip : Katie and Erin

6/11/02: Please note: For those of you who were planning on not diving during the week of June 17-21 due to Coach Kev being out of town, Noah Eckert has come to our rescue. He has frequently talked of getting started coaching USD again after a 6-month HS coaching stint at Fairview and Boulder HS, and even attended the team's recent Summer Picnic at Nick-o's. Noah will be coaching Monday/Wednesday/Thursday from 5p to 8p during the week of June 17-21, 2002. June's training has really picked up. Sandy Petersen (Jerry's Mom) and Donna Lionberger (Erin's Mom) has been scurrying to get all the travel details together for the Regional meet in The Woodlands, TX. Looking forward to diving at a great outdoor facility in the land that knows little cold weather this time of year. Should be a great weekend. So far, the following divers are confirmed for competition at the Regional meet: Nick Siegler (1M/3M), Jerry Molsberry (1M/3M), Amber Utesch (1M/3M?), Julia Northrop (1M/3M), Erin Lionberger (1M/3M), Andrea Esa (1M), Katie Griffith (1M), Keli McCoy (1M), and Bryce Engstrom (1M/3M). Some of us will be leaving Wednesday evening after practice, and the rest of us will be leaving EARLY (chicken-thirty) on Thursday, July 4th. No fireworks PLEASE... Colorado is on fire... in a bad way!!! Sagebrush had a fun intersquad meet... results can be found at the Meet Results page. Julia is diving VERY well right now, despite having a yucky wrist. Other news... Julia and Noah Eckert are filling in for Kev until June 21st... Kev is doing the Midwest family wedding and reunion thingy (planned a year ago). Good luck divers that are attending camps: Julia Northrop and Erin Lionberger (Purdue), Susan Richardson (Texas), Leslie Simonton (Arizona or Texas?), and I THINK that is it.

5/21/02: Congratulations to Bryce Engstrom (3rd) and Kevin Tobin (8th) who made championship finals at the recent Boys 4A State Championships. Bryce (a sophomore) ended the season with the 11-dive school record of 411.95 pts, and Kevin (a junior) owns the 6-dive school record of 253.8 pts. Also, congratulations go to Taylor Roberts (Mile High Dive Club and a junior at Smoky Hill High School) and Nick O'Quin (junior at Pueblo South High School) for their championship wins. Do the math... the top 8 scores in 4A and 5A increased by 10% and 7%, respectively, of the previous year. Fantastic!!!

5/15/02: The newsletter went out this morning to all active and inactive members of Sagebrush Diving. The Summer Schedule for 2002 was announced and we have expanded the lessons offerings into the early afternoon for the Tuesday/Thursday kids, as well as modifying our competitive team practice schedule. The competitive divers now have the option of training 17 hours per week including dryland (formerly, it was 10 hours). They also have the incredible option of training on platform at the USAFA in Colorado Springs on Thursdays, which is GREAT news. Special Thanks go to the administration at the USAFA, and especially to Stan Curnow, the head diving coach at the Academy, who has been a blessing to our sport. Thanks, "Ed!" The dryboard is up and working. Plans are being made for the installation of a sparging system. More to come. Stay tuned for some serious fundraising efforts.

1/21/02: Long time since we did an update. Sorry about that. Many exciting things are ahead for Sagebrush Diving, including the possibility of renovation and reconstruction of diving facilities in the Arvada area by the North Jeffco Parks and Recreation group. We are looking at the possibility of expanding the diving lessons program to an outdoor facility (Fisher Pool at North Jeffco Park), as well as replacing the diving stands at Meyers Pool. However, we have alot of work to do. Fundraising is going to be critical over the next several months, and continuity of training will also be a big issue for us. We have several active divers that are putting some finishing touches on their lists of dives... and are anticipating the return of other divers that are getting their training time filled with high school diving. "A Lucky Meet" is March 16th in Lincoln, Nebraska, Winter Regionals will be three weeks later April 6th and 7th in Lincoln, and Nationals will follow in Baton Rouge, LA (April 27th and 28th). Go Sagebrush Diving!!!

08/26/01: So much diving to be done... so little time. Well, as Summer comes... Summer goes. The kids are back in school, and pool has been closed for two weeks (maintenance, repairs, retiling, etc.), and the pool doesn't re-open til Monday, September 10th. Sagebrush Diving had a most successful Summer season, with 11 divers that competed at Regionals, 5 at Zones (in Buffalo, NY), and 1 at Nationals (Indianapolis). After shutdown is over, the divers will start back up, but let us warn you... we have dramatically re-formatted our programming to maximize the board time for all divers at all levels. From the beginning diver to the National hopefuls, from the diver that has no idea what a reverse dive is to the diver that wants to win State Championships... Sagebrush has a new home for you. Come join the fun, officially starting with a full schedule on Monday, September 17th. Click on the Days and Times page or the About Sagebrush Teams page to see where you fit in. Or to go back to the homepage, click here.

07/8/01: Sagebrush Diving was host to the 2001 Summer Region VI Championships, where they placed 8th (out of 16) teams, and qualified several divers through to the next level... Zone Championships in Buffalo, NY. More about that later. Congratulations to all the Sagebrush divers that competed. It was tough competition in every event. Complete Results: 1-meter 3-meter Platform Team Results (click one)

04/28/01: Ah... what a weekend to relax in Boulder, Colorado. The team of Sagebrush Divers hit the Summit of Mt. Sanitas. "Team Sanitas" included: Johnna Jaynes, Julia Northrop, Susan Richardson, Noah Eckert, Jess Andrus, Ali Rose, Sami Rose, Dan Schunk, Deb Sage, Elijah Sage, and Coach Kev.

04/16/01: I apologize for not updating the news and views pages anytime recently... Wow!!! It has been since the second day of the year. Geepers... get with it, Kev. Lots of great things are happening for our team, and I will try to keep it short. We have a new "season" starting on Monday, April 23, 2001. Sagebrush Diving will be kicking it off with a team meeting discussing training plans, practice schedules, goalsetting, meet schedules, and parent involvement, just to name a few issues, so be aware of that. The meeting begins at 6:05p after practice on Monday, April 23 at Meyers Pool. ALL DIVERS (and at least one of their parents) are encouraged to attend this informative (and meaningful) kick-off meeting. We have a boatload of new talent jumping aboard, and a bunch of experienced divers building dive lists that are Regional, Zone, and National competition-level lists. Congratulations to Jess Andrus for NEARLY cracking the National level with two very respectable lists of dives in Rochester, MN. I have to say that was a VERY competitive group of girls vying for West Nationals. Since then, her list has grown and will continue to grow. Congratulations to Sami (1M and 3M) and Ali Rose (1M only), Susan Richardson (1M only, and Julia Northrop (1M only) for their great list of dives, as well. Also, congratulations to Chelsea Bates, new 2001 5A State Diving Champion, who narrowly defeated the defending 5A and 4A State Champions (Megan Balkenbush and Kitt Watkins, respectively). What a great day it was, and since then she has proudly signed with the Lobos at University of New Mexico (coached by Jeff DiNicola). On another note, as the boards start to get more and more crowded, we will hopefully be expanding into more diving well hours. Stay tuned to our practice schedules page.

01/02/01: Happy New Year, divers! Sagebrush Diving announces their new schedule for 2001. New and expanded diving lessons program for the beginner/novice/intermediate diver. Daily practices for the JO, Senior, or Masters level diver. Check out the days and times page for details. Go Sagebrush Diving!!!

12/10/00: Santa Claus brought Coach Kev an early Christmas present this year in the form of three of the brightest young coaches in the world!!!! Click here to meet them all. Sagebrush Diving was forced to expand due to the growing lessons program at North Jeffco Parks and Recreation. Stay tuned to our Practice Days and Times page, as all Sagebrush programs are going to expand in 2001, including the DIVE SAFE program (beginning and intermediate divers) moving to five days per week, as well as the J/O, Senior, and Masters practices. Divers can choose the number of days and times that they want to practice*, based on their goals and abilities. (* when a certain hour fills with the maximum of 6 divers, that session will be closed). Registration forms will be available soon.

9/29/00: Sagebrush Diving began using their new spotting rig and trampoline in training on 9/28/00. We are excited to be one of the only clubs in the Rocky Mountain Diving Association practicing 6 days per week that offer advanced dive training tools, such as the trampoline and spot rigging, that have formed some of the best divers in United States history. Congratulations to Sagebrush Diving... here we go!!!

9/6/00: Sagebrush Diving announced yesterday that we will be hosting the Second Annual Sagebrush Invite on November 11th. The meet will highlight some of the best J/O divers in the Region, and a separate competition will allow beginner/novice divers to show their stuff. If your team is interested in competing, please E-mail us at Sagebrush Diving. In addition to that news, Sagebrush Diving is realizing a huge demand for beginning lessons. To answer this need, we are starting beginning lessons with three different classes. See our practice Days and Times page for details.

9/4/00: Sagebrush Diving announced a video database that includes Jefferson County, State, National and Olympic diving footage. Currently, only Sagebrush Diving members can check out the videos. However, it is our hope to allow anyone within the Rocky Mountain Diving Association (USD members of any clubs in Colorado and Wyoming) to check out the videos. Tell us what you think of the video database. Will this be helpful to you? Let us know.

8/18/00: Sagebrush Diving took five divers to Zones Championships (Jessica Andrus, Johnna Jaynes, Ashley Nance, Sami Rose and Cori Swango). It was a new level of competition for all five of the divers and they gained invaluable competition experience. Linda Wagner and Danielle Brown were unable to travel because of travel plans, and Ali Rose was not notified of her qualification until it was too late. Sagebrush Silver Diving (J/O team) is currently in shutdown, with a return to the diving boards scheduled for Wednesday, September 6th, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sagebrush Blue Diving (Beginning/Novice team) should follow shortly after that, tentatively scheduled for a September 11th start (7p to 8p). www.sagebrushdiving.com is scheduled for a serious update by the end of August, so stay tuned.

7/13/00: Sagebrush Diving had an incredible weekend as a team, as they qualified everyone for the Finals, and 8 of 9 divers qualified for Zone Championships in St. Louis, July 21-23. Stay tuned for the results of the Regional competition. Results can be found at the following link: Region 6 Championships

6/22/00: Sagebrush Diving falls victim to the D.U. Hilltoppers, as they came to town with double the amount of divers. Sagebrush Diving nearly won every event that they had a diver in, but couldn't overcome the depth of the Hilltoppers. Final score: HILL 79, Sagebrush 63. Swango (again) won both her events, with a solid performance especially on 1-meter. Ali Rose impressed everyone with her first double win on 1M and 3M. Jess Andrus dove in her first meet as a 14/15 year old, and swept both her events for the second time this season. Jerry Molsberry came through with a double win in his two events. Sami Rose was able to capture the 1M event, but had a rough day on 3M. Melissa Remner came through for two 4th place finishes to round out the meet. Way to go, Hilltoppers.

6/15/00: Sagebrush Diving wins their first dual meet of the Summer, on the Speedos of double-winners, Cori Swango, Jess Andrus, Julia Northrop, and single-event winners, Danielle Brown and Tony Sutera. It was a great finish to a REALLY fun meet. Sagebrush thanks all the parents of Fort Collins, and to say the least, we were totally impressed with the hilarious attitudes both the teams shared during the meet. Special thanks to Michelle Swango, Shari Andrus, and Penny Dumas for their help with the scoring table.

6/8/00: Things are going great for Sagebrush Diving. On a day that we ALMOST defeated arguably the best diving club in the State of Colorado (Mile High Diving Club) in a dual meet, our BRAND NEW TRAMPOLINE arrived. That's right!!! Ever since U.S. West announced that Sagebrush Diving was a recipient of a generous U.S. West Travel and Training Grant, our team (and especially the COACH!!!) has been anxiously awaiting its arrival. Well, it's here. Now, we can train like the champions that we are. Thank you SO MUCH, U.S. West. We will make you proud of your investment. By the way, Mile High won the dual meet, 86 points to Sagebrush Diving's 74 points. Maybe next year? Special thanks goes to Sue Moore, Suzy Vaughn, and Michelle Swango for their help with the scoring table.

6/7/00: Sagebrush Diving will be taking on the State of Colorado during the month of June, as Mile High Diving, Fort Collins Diving Club, and D.U. Hilltoppers will be coming to town for dual meets. To our knowledge, this is the first time anything like this has been done. Sagebrush Diving is proud to be "breaking the mold," trying new things to get interest levels high for springboard diving year-round. Good luck, Sagebrush Diving. All meet results will be posted in the Meet Results section of the website.

6/7/00: Hey, the pads for the trampoline arrived today, as did the two 6 X 10 stackmats that we will be able to use for tumbling, dry-land training, and stretching. The trampoline is due tomorrow, the date of our first dual meet against Mile High Diving. Let's hope it comes... fingers crossed. The spot rigging, harnesses (somersaulting and twisting belts), and pulley systems are due over the next couple weeks. The management at Meyers Pool (Dawn, Betsy, and Phil) are being EXTREMELY accommodating. They are awesome...

5/2/00: Linda Wagner placed 15th on one-meter, and 29th on three-meter at West J/O Nationals, but came away with a smile and a new wish (that more of her teammates can make it to Nationals this Summer). Congratulations to other Colorado divers (Hannah Herbold, MHDC, 13th on three-meter and 18th on one-meter, Cody Stambaugh, DUH, 13th on three-meter, Sean Moore, MHDC, 14th on one-meter, and Kitt Watkins, MHDC, 29th on one-meter).

5/2/00: Nearly a month has gone by, and Sagebrush Diving has had a busy month. We competed at Region IX J/O Diving Championships, placing 13th as a team behind some pretty tough competition: Mission Viejo Nadadores (eventual 2000 West National Champions), Trojan Dive Club, Clavadistas Del Sol, Pacific Diving, Rose Bowl Aquatics, Dive Thousand Oaks, Sun Devil Divers, Taylor Made Diving, Northern Arizona University, Mesa Desert Divers, Arizona Marlins, and Tucson Diving. Results will be available in its entirety soon in the results section, but most of our divers competed on both boards. Listed below are the results for each diver, with 1-meter listed first, then 3-meter, and the total number of divers in parentheses:

4/7/00: Sagebrush Diving is quickly shaping up for Regional competition, and we received some really fun news. The team will be travelling to Mesa in a Motor Home (provided by the Andrus' family). It's gonna be a blast. We'll be hooking up with the Fort Collins Diving Club somewhere along the route, and the Colorado Contingent will be ready to take Mesa by storm. Keep posted to www.sagebrushdiving.com for Regional Results.

4/3/00: Sagebrush Divers are diving "huge" right now. Each practice, for some reason, the divers are throwing dives that are causing Coach Kev to collapse on deck. The young divers are throwing brand new lists on 3-meter up, and the"old" divers are completing their "studly" lists on one-meter and three-meter. We confirmed our 2000 Winter Regional Team that will be travelling to Mesa, Arizona, including:

3/7/00: Also of note... U.S. West Telecommunications has announced their support of Sagebrush Diving by awarding us a Travel and Training Grant to cover the cost of purchasing a new trampoline and spot rigging system. Words cannot express the importance of this GENEROUS support. We will be accepting the grant soon, and will have the trampoline on deck VERY soon.

3/7/00: Sagebrush Diving posted their first website. Yes~! Also in the news, Sagebrush Diving hosted the first annual Colorado Diving Invite 2000 at George Meyers Pool in Arvada. The meet was conducted with few hitches, and the divers had a great time. Special thanks to Chesapeake Bagel Bakery for their generous support. S.L.A.P. Diving (from Salt Lake City, Utah) walked away with the meet, scoring 389 team points, compared to Sagebrush Diving's 309 points. Congratulations, SLAP'ers!!! And, great job Sagebrush Diving... all the divers did a great job.