Luton divers earn gold medals galore at National Skills Finals

Luton Diving Club took three of the six golds on offer and then almost swept up the medals in the afternoon session on the opening day of the Swim England National Skills Finals held in Leeds recently.

Joshua Saxton was up first in the morning and stormed his way to gold in the group D2 boys event.

Leading from the start, Saxton extended his advantage throughout the event to win with a huge score of 349.10, a full 50 points ahead of second place.

Next up was Kalila McCrickard and Elodie Biggam, who won two of the three medals up for grabs in the Group C1 Girls event.

McCrickard won gold after scoring a massive 317.10 from her 12 dives, as Biggam claimed the bronze.

Finishing off day one with an all-purple podium, was the girls in the C2 event.

Lois Fell-Cohen was the pick of the bunch, claiming gold with a score of 314.05.

Jessica Howarth finished closely behind to take silver and Aurelia Lee managed bronze with a score of 305.05.

Sophie Uminski was sixth and Rebecca Price 12th, both competing in their first ever national event.

Violet Rhodes was first up on day two in the Girls D1 event, finishing a respectable fifth place in her first national competition.

Daisy Dwyer won Luton their fourth gold medal of the competition with the only score in her group reaching the 300-point mark during the Girls D2 event.

She dived consistently to be 10 points clear of second place with a score of 302.20.

Rounding off the competition for Luton were Mia Tiley and Hannah Cundell, both competing in the last event, the Girls B1.

Cundell started strongly, scoring 29.75 for her first dive and 35.10 for her back pike dive.

Tiley was in contention for a medal throughout the competition helped by scoring 39.60 on her front two and a half in pike, eventually finishing fourth out of 28 divers, with Cundell ending up in 12th position.

Luton's new coach Ben Carmen said: "I am very proud of all the divers’ attitudes and performances.

"The team and parents gave great support to each other.

"For many, it was their first time competing at a national competition and their first experience of a team chaperoned event.

"I look forward to seeing how all the divers progress over the coming year."