CORAL SPRINGS, Florida (Feb. 5, 2021) - The FIU divers had a successful day at the South Florida Diving Invitational on Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers won all three events and saw two divers qualify for NCAA Zone Diving.

"Overall, we had a great meet," said Diving Coach Nick Yang. "We won all three events and are ready to turn our attention to the Conference USA Championships."

Kaity Fredericks and Raquel Mason both qualified for NCAA Zones in the platform, with scores of 284.85 and 231.15, respectively.

The platform score was a personal best for Fredericks, who also logged a personal best of 278.55 in the 3-meter. Fredericks also nailed a difficult dive (107c 2.8 dd) in the 3-meter for the very first time.

"This is a huge dive for Kaity [Fredericks]," said Coach Yang.

Former Tokyo Olympic Games diver Maha Gouda was dominant on the boards once again, taking first place in both the 3-meter (347.40) and platform (308.15) events. Gouda scored a 9 and 9.5 on her last platform dive to put an exclamation point on the event.

Mandy Song also had a stellar day, winning the 1-meter (330.50) and taking second place in the 3-meter (340.70).

"Mandy ripped every single dive on the 1-meter today," said Coach Yang.

Also competing was second-year diver Alexa Lemus Hernandez, who posted a score of 257.20 in the 3-meter and 205.20 in the platform.

"Alexa didn't miss a dive today," said Yang. "She had a very decent day."

UP NEXT
The Panther swimmers will have their final regular-season tune-up at the Miami First Chance Invitational next Friday, Feb. 11, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. FIU will then turn its attention to the Conference USA Championships on Feb. 23-26.

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