The UIC diving teams will host the annual UIC Diving Invitational Saturday, wrapping up regular season competition ahead of the Horizon League championships.

Eight teams from the region will be represented.  The Flames will dive against Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Lake Forest, Lincoln, the University of Chicago, Illinois State, and Illinois-Urbana Champaign. 

The invitational will begin at 11:00 am with the men's 3-meter and women's 1-meter events.  Following those competitions and a brief lunch break, the men will attack the 1-meter board and the women will compete on the 3-meter board.

Head diving coach Susan Bromberg anticipates another high level invitational.  "The divers really look forward to this meet," she said.  "It's the last event before our conference meet and it lets us know what where we are and it helps us identify what we need to focus on these next few weeks of training before the Horizon League Championships."

Flames to Watch

• Sean Scarry is coming off a double win in the Flames last meet against Olivet Nazarene.  He set personal season high scores on both boards and claimed his first wins of the season.
• Andrew Lewarchick has already surpassed the NCAA Zone qualifying standard on the 3-meter board.  He has won that event three times this season, and has added two wins on the 1-meter board.
• Cydney Liebenberg had another outstanding meet last time out, and earned Horizon League Female Diver of the Week honors for the third time.  She set a season high on the 3-meter board, posted her second-highest score on the 1-meter board, and surpassed the NCAA Zone standards on both boards again.  She has won both events in the same meet five times this season.
• Kallie Zuidema broke through with a second place showing on the 1-meter board with a season high.  She also turned in her best performance of the year on the 3-meter board.
• Rachel Criscione and Ryan Murphy also competed for UIC against ONU.  They both set season highs on both boards.

Scouting the Field

• Horizon League rival Milwaukee captured the conference's Female Diver of the Week award this week courtesy of Cassidy Pilo, who placed first in both events.
• Matt Wilke leads Oshkosh's men, while Gabrielle Kraus has the highest scores among the women.
• Lizzie Johns and Heath Ogawa were Lake Forest's top finishers in their most recent meet.
• In UChicago's last meet, Agnes Lo broke the school record in the 3-meter event.
• Caroline Lecoeur paced Illinois State with wins on both boards in their latest meet against Washington (St. Louis).
• Illinois' Madeline Kuhn was the 1-meter and 3-meter winner in the team's last outing.
• Logan Santiago led Lincoln on both boards at the Illinois Quad.

Fans can follow live scoring at divemeets.com.  UIC will not dive competitively again until the Horizon League Championships, which run February 21 through 24.