Divers Hughes, Borth Place In Top 10 At NCAA

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Both of Northern Arizona’s divers placed in the top 10 on the 1-meter at the NCAA Zone E Regional Diving Championships, after NAU had already earned one top-10 finish on the 3-meter a day earlier.

Junior Natalie Hughes was ninth on the 1-meter while teammate Danielle Borth placed 10th.

Hughes went into the finals after placing an exciting fifth in the prelims of the 1-meter with a score of 254.80. Her score fell a bit to 246.70 in the finals (501.50 total), dropping her four spots.

Borth was 10th in both the prelims and the finals, with a score of 245.90 in the prelims and 248.45 in the finals.

Both divers were the top finishers from the state of Arizona, as the next-closest was a 17th place finish by Arizona State.

“Both girls really did compete well against a lot of really strong, elite competition,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “I’m really proud of both of them, and we still have another year to come back even stronger.”

Despite the top-notch effort, none of NAU’s finishes will qualify either diver to compete at the NCAA Championships. Both will wrap up the season on Saturday by competing on the platform, an event NAU rarely practices due to not having a platform on campus.