By Alison Madsen
For the first time ever, BYU''s diving team will host Stanford in a regular season competition.
The two teams have competed against each other before, but only in the NCAA Zone qualifiers.
'We definitely compare with Stanford and that is one reason they are taking the time to come and compete against us,' said Keith Russell, BYU diving coach. 'Because of our record Stanford''s diving coach knows that we will have something to offer them, it is not very often that Stanford will come out for a competition.'
The Cougar women have seized 12 out of the 14 first place finishes in their dual meet competitions this season, lead by Senior Kelli Einfeldt with three wins on the one-meter board and five on the three-meter.
Only once have the Cougar women left a dual meet this season without at least one first place finish.
Einfeldt, the only Mountain West Conference diver to qualify for the finals in the three-meter event at the Speedo American Cup on Jan. 7, will bring some tough competition for Stanford in both the one and three-meter events.
Einfeldt''s high score in the three-meter defeats that of Stanford''s McKenze Murphy and her one-meter score is only just below Stanford''s Ashlee Rosenthal.
Rosenthal, a sophomore from Stanford, Calif., won her first invitational college event when she captured the one-meter event at the Bruin Diving Invitational in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 18.
'Ashlee continued her recent dramatic improvement throughout the season last year and has become one of our top divers and an NCAA level diver,' remarked Stanford''s coaching staff, according to the team''s web page. 'She really put it all together last year.'
The Cougars will face the Cardinal on Friday, Feb. 14, at
1 p.m. in the Richards Building.
'We are looking forward to this competition because they have a great team,' said Russell. 'It gives us a chance to do something with a really great team.'