SCARBOROUGH, Ont. – Arizona State senior diver Hailey Casper placed second in the 3-meter Championships at the 2015 Winter National Canadian Diving Championships from Scarborough, Ont. After having to miss the meet against fierce rival, Arizona, in order to compete, Casper instead shined bright in the national spotlight.
This year, the competition was held at the new Toronto Pan Am Sports Center, built for this upcoming summer’s Pan Am Games. For Casper, her top-two finish carries important precedent, as this was is one event scheduled this year in order to determine Canada’s national diving team for the Pan Am Games, as well as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“She finished runner-up at her National Championship,” Head Coach Mark Bradshaw said. “That’s pretty special.”
After advancing through the Prelims to the Championship round, Casper rose to the occasion and amassed a score of 309.30 in five dives, solidifying her second place finish by 21 points.
“That’s my highest placement at Winter Nationals,” Casper said. “It was an exciting day.”
Casper’s consistency played a key role in her successful finish. She eclipsed 60 points on four of her five dives, and recorded a 67.50 on her third dive, becoming one of only two divers in the competition to do so.
Earlier this season, Bradshaw raved about the consistency and what he can expect from Casper every time she stands on the diving board.
“Of all the divers I have, she’s really the one where I know what she’s going to do every time,” Bradshaw described. “She’s very consistent.”
Casper displayed that consistency on Sunday firsthand.
“In the Finals, it was all about finishing my dives, getting up and down, and keeping tight,” Casper said. “I wanted to keep it one dive at a time.”
Jennifer Abel, Olympic bronze medalist, was the only other diver to achieve a higher mark, as she went on to win the event with a score of 342.55.
Casper felt as if she performed shaky in the Prelims, finishing 10th with a score of 246.00, but she still scored high enough to fill one of the 12 finalist positions. When she stepped to the board in the Championship round, however, she remained poised and confident, determined to execute a complete set of dives in the ways she had been practicing.
“I was happy for her because in the Finals she did a very solid list of dives,” Bradshaw said. “That always means something.”
Casper, from Alberta, Canada, won bronze in the 3-meter one year ago at the 2014 Winter National Canadian Diving Championships with a score of 336.00. Afterwards, she went on to finish second in the event at Zone E Qualifying Championships, and 14th at NCAA Championships, where she also finished 12th in the 1-meter.
Casper sat out during the schedule’s first portion of the season this year at ASU due to shoulder surgery,
Though the collegiate season rolls on with Pac-12 Diving Championships beginning in late February, Casper’s national success and its implications on her future cannot go unnoticed.
“In her position – where she is coming back from her surgery – it’s a great thing,” Bradshaw stated regarding Casper’s finish. “It certainly bodes well for her and her future.”