News and Views

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 t