East Michigan News

The Eastern Michigan University (EMU) swim and dive team is gearing up for their first competition of 2025 at the UB Diving Invite. This event, hosted by the University at Buffalo, will take place from January 10 to 12 at the Alumni Arena Natatorium & Dorsi Raynolds Pool. The meet will feature teams from Akron, Duquesne, and Ohio alongside EMU.

The competition schedule includes the three-meter dive on Friday, the one-meter dive on Saturday, and concludes with the platform dive on Sunday. This will be the first time this season that EMU's divers participate in a platform event. The top-12 divers from preliminary rounds will advance to finals in each category.

Last season at this invite, four EMU athletes placed in the top-10 for both one-meter and three-meter dives. Ciara Wheeler led with a fourth-place finish in the one-meter dive scoring 256.25 points, while Rebekah Knapp achieved fifth place in the three-meter with 280.15 points.

Most recently, against Oakland on November 21, Malia Maire secured a personal-best second-place finish in the one-meter dive with 270.45 points. Rebekah Knapp led in the three-meter dive with a score of 317.25 points. Overall, Eastern divers claimed 23 out of 37 diving points leading to their victory.

Knapp has been recognized as MAC Co-Diver of the Week twice this season and achieved NCAA Zone Diving Championships qualifications in both one-meter and three-meter events.

In previous meets this season, EMU had mixed results including a win over Cleveland State and a narrow victory against Buffalo but fell short against Indiana State.

Under Coach Perkins' leadership entering his sixth year, EMU aims to build upon past successes with nine regular-season meets leading up to MAC Championships scheduled for February 26 through March 1.

Tom Gimm was appointed as Head Diving Coach bringing experience from Moss Farms Diving where he recently coached high school standout Tuck Gregory to a state championship.

With a mix of returning athletes and new talent including nine freshmen recruits like Riess Estep and Aisling Gutierrez, EMU looks forward to another competitive season.