Photo by: Jill Hamilton
Freshman diver Ross Edfort collected his sixth Sun Belt Conference Diver of the Week award of his rookie campaign last week after his performance against Northwestern and Missouri on Jan. 27-28.
The honor comes after Edfort’s second place overall finishes in the 1-M and 3-M events at the Northwestern Invitational, earning him an NCAA zone standard score and increasing his season total to seven NCAA marks.
Despite Edfort’s strong performances, the Pioneers were unable to clinch a victory against Northwestern, ending their regular season on a loss.
“I felt great about our efforts. We just got beat by better teams today. We are a young team, and I think this motivates us for next year and sets a good tone for us to get mentally ready for a tough conference meet,” said head coach Brian Schrader.
Edfort said with help from his coach and the rest of the team, his performance has gotten consistently better over the season.
“When we go to these meets, it is a competition against the other team, but it’s also a competition against myself and I’m always trying to do better and one-up my previous performance,” said Edfort.
Edfort even took part of the summer off from his normal diving season just so he could get into the mindset he thought he would need to be a part of DU Athletics.
With his carefully constructed attitude in mind, Edfort came in with few expectations of placing or winning much, if anything, in the way of awards. It would appear that Edfort’s expectations were set too low, however, given the recognition he is now receiving from the SBC.
“It’s been really great receiving this kind of recognition. I performed well in high school but I never received this kind of attention, and being one of the only divers here at DU, it’s been really great getting this kind of recognition as an athlete from the team and my friends,” said Edfort.
Edfort has repeatedly swept the boards with first place finishes in both the 1-M and 3-M events, including at the Air Force Academy on Jan. 21 and at a home competition against BYU and Wyoming on Jan. 14.
“Ross has come in this year and really bought into the team values,” said head dive coach Aaron D’Addario. “He has performed at a very consistent level this season, making the changes and adjustments that he has had to, to keep his level of competition up.”
Edfort and the rest of the Pioneers will next compete in the SBC Championships in Rockwell, Texas. The championship meet is set for Feb. 22-25.
