Greenwich Marlins Dive Team Brings Home Gold Medals

 YMCA OF GREENWICH MARLINS DIVING BRING HOME GOLD

April 15, 2013– Carolina Sculti of Rye NY from the Greenwich Marlins  along with 8 other team members,  competed at the 2013 USA Diving East National Competition which was held at Purdue University in Lafayette, IN. With 9 divers representing the Marlins, the club finished 7th overall.

This competition has Carolina Sculti as a 5 time East National Champion along with gathering golds at the 2012 YMCA National Championships, 2011Speedo National championships and the  2011 Jr Pan American Games.

“We had some outstanding performances overall and I'm very proud of our team,” said Coach Lindsay Weigle. 

One of the highlights of the weekend was the opportunity for the kids to meet London Olympic Gold Medalist David Boudia. "It was really inspiring to meet David Boudia and to see him train! It motivates me to keep working hard and to dive my best at nationals," said Maddy Kenney of Rye, NY. 

Of the qualifiers, Carolina Sculti of Rye, NY, James Hopper of Greenwich, CT, and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick of Darien, CT all placed in the Top 3 in their events. Carolina came out on top of her 12-13 events, earning a gold medal on 3 meter on Saturday, which also happened to be her Golden 13th Birthday (turning 13 on April 13th, 2013), as well as gold on 1 meter and a silver on platform. Carolina will also soon be one of the featured divers on USADiving.org after having been interviewed by a USA Diving representative.

Elizabeth placed 3rd in the 16-18 Platform. James earned silver medals on the 1 and 3 meter springboard events and won his 12-13 Platform with an outstanding personal best performance. 

The 9 Marlins Divers who participated at East Nationals include: Carolina Sculti, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Lee Christensen, Elizabeth Uhl, Madeline Kenney, James Hopper,  Samantha Ho, Saylor Kirsch and Myles Spiess.

 Other medal winners include Elizabeth Uhl from Greenwich in 14-15 Platform, Lee Christensen of Darien in 16-18 3 meter and Platform, Samantha Ho of Scarsdale in 12-13 1 meter, and Saylor Kirsch of Greenwich in 11 and Under 1 meter. “This is the first of 4 national meets that we attend in our season. To see how well the kids competed is really exciting.” said Coach Dylan Korn. “This is the biggest group of kids we have ever brought to a nationals and to have so many of them be in the top 12 of their age group is very impressive."

Next weekend, Carolina and James are on the road again traveling with their coach Lindsay Weigle to Indianapolis, Indiana for a national training camp for the top 12-13 year olds in the country. Following that, the Marlins will have a week of training and then head down to Fort Lauderdale, FL to compete at the 2013 YMCA National Championships from April 25^th-28^th.

The YMCA of Greenwich Marlins Diving Club offers classes for all levels and ages. The competitive team competes at local, regional and national meets and invitational tournaments with the goal of qualifying for Nationals. For more information, please visit www.marlinsdiveclub.com.

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