The annual UIC Diving Invitational will return to Flames Natatorium Saturday morning.

This year's event will draw five men's and seven women's teams to join the Flames in 1-meter, 3-meter, and synchro events.  It will be the last chance for UIC to compete before the Horizon League Championships, which start February 16.

The Flames are led by veterans Cydney Liebenberg and Felix Lafortune.  Each of them has posted numerous NCAA Zone-qualifying scores and has racked up first-place finishes throughout the season.  Underclassmen Ciara McCliment and Gabby Richards will round out the team's women's entries.  McCliment will seek a 1-meter Zone score of her own, having already achieved one on the 3-meter board.  Richards will look for continued improvement from the season highs she posted within the last two meets.

Hunter Trautmann and Cole Tremewan will bolster UIC's men's team.  Tremewan has already qualified for Zones on both boards, and has a handful of second-place finished this year in which he was only beaten out by his teammate Lafortune.  Trautmann scored career highs on both boards in last weekend's meet at UChicago.

Local and regional teams will be represented at the invitational.  Carthage, Chicago, Eau Claire, Green Bay, and Milwaukee will enter their men's and women's teams.  Lake Forest and Illinois, which only sponsors a women's team, will compete in the women's field.

Liebenberg is the defending UIC Diving Invitational champion on the 1-meter board.  Taylor Shegos of Illinois will return to defend her 3-meter crown.  Lafortune was a double champion at the invitational in 2020, which was the last time the event was held.

The event will begin at 11:00 a.m. and live scores can be found on divemeets.com.