Freshman leads KU at Invite

Mertz carries Jayhawks at Houston Diving Invitational

J-W Staff Reports

Posted Sunday, November 18, 2007

Houston, Texas — Kansas University freshman Erin Mertz turned in three top-four performances for the Jayhawks at the Houston Diving Invitational, which ran Thursday through Saturday at the University of Houston.

Mertz dove to a second-place finish in the three-meter diving competition (288.70 points), third-place finish on the one-meter board (272.30) and fourth-place platform (203.40) finish.

Kansas joined Arizona and host Houston at the three-day competition.

On day one of the event, Kansas senior Jenny Roberts finished fifth on the one-meter board with a score of 236.75. Close behind was sophomore Meghan Proehl, who tied for sixth with 232.85 points.

Junior Hannah McMacken placed eighth (230.90), while sophomore Allison Ho and freshman Chelsea Hartling finished 11th (208.45) and 12th (193.45), respectively.

In Friday’s three-meter diving action, Mertz dove her way to a second-place, 288.70 finals finish, the highest finish for KU at the competition.

Proehl (248.90), McMacken (245.45), Roberts (230.25), Ho (208.25) and Hartling (185.80) placed ninth through 11th in the event, respectively.

The three-team invitational wrapped up Saturday with the platform competition.

In addition to Mertz’s fourth-place, Proehl rallied for a sixth-place showing (178.10), her first on the one-meter board. McMacken and Ho rounded out the competition for the Jayhawks with eighth- (163.15) and ninth-place performances (150.40) in platform diving.

KU will be back in action Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, when the team heads to Gambier, Ohio, for the Nike Cup-Kenyon Invitational.