The weekend before Thanksgiving, Rowan women’s diving traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the Carnegie Mellon Diving Invitational. While there, the Profs faced some of the best Division III diving teams in the country.

Once again, it was freshmen Megan Anderson and Emma Cusmano representing Rowan. 

Anderson finished in seventeenth place with a score of 247.75 in the one meter dive and in 16 with a score of 126.60 in the three meter dive. Cusmano finished at eighteenth place with a score of 242.80 in the one meter dive and 19 with a score of 114.70 in the three meter dive.

Anderson explained how this was a learning experience competing at this event.

“It was really fun. Everyone was super nice. And it was more of a learning experience for me because I saw everyone doing all the big dives,” Anderson said. “It gave me a sense of like, this is what my next four years could look like, you know, like, doing big dives.”

Head Coach John Morris expressed how he saw his team hold their own against the bigger and tougher schools.

“I was really impressed with their performance. It’s starting off the year with a lot of fresh new divers, they do to the best of their abilities,” Coach Morris said. “Which is not an easy thing to do, especially in mid-season meet where you’re gone against some of the best division three programs in the country. And they’re held their own and I’m really excited. They all added new part dives to their list and they are hard dives.”

Diving now has a break, as their next meet is not until Jan. 15 against New Jersey Athletic conference (NJAC) rival The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Anderson wants to keep up her momentum after the Carnegie Mellon meet.

“I’m gonna go to the gym and work out,” Anderson said. “I’m gonna work at my gymnastics gym and probably tumble that you know to keep flipping.”

Coach Morris believes that the team’s competitive spirit is there and is ready but there are a few things he feels they need to work on before their meet against TCNJ.

“Competition wise, I think they’re in a great place,” Coach Morris said. “Difficulty wise they need to get a little bit more difficult lists to compete against TCNJ.”

The swimming team is now due for competition as they are coming off a break, with their last meet on Nov. 6 where they ended in a tie against Montclair State University.

The Profs will be heading to Worcester, Massachusetts on Thursday for the three day Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Gompei Invitational.

Head Coach Elise Blaschke expressed how the timing of the meet helped the Profs in their preparation.

“I think the weekend for Thanksgiving break giving them the opportunity to go home and train on their own or train with their club teams was definitely refreshing for them,” Coach Blaschke said. “We have been hard at work for I guess about ten weeks now, this being the eleventh. And I think it’s going to culminate into something really great for them.”

Coach Blaschke has great expectations for the team as they head into their first big meet of the season. 

“My expectation is just to see them be supportive of one another and just apply all the little details we’ve been working on in practice,” Coach Blaschke said. “It’s not so much to see lifetime bests. Though I can assume that we will have some, we certainly will have some season bests. But again, I’m looking for them to apply all those small details and be supportive of other teammates.”

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