FRESNO, Calif. – Fresno Pacific’s chance at their first swimming and diving national title has become more realistic this season as the Sunbirds will send divers to Nationals for the first time in program history. Two men,
Dan Crosby and
Zach Niles, and one woman,
Amanda Plymette, will represent Fresno Pacific in St. Louis.
“There are so few divers in the NAIA, so sending divers to Nationals means guaranteed points that we did not have last year,” explained Head Coach Peter Richardson.
Currently, all three divers are ranked in the top five on both one-meter and three-meter boards, and last year the men were second and the women fourth at Nationals without divers.
Plymette is representing the Sunbirds for her first season, and will improve the women’s competitiveness at Nationals. Currently both men’s and women’s teams are ranked first in the polls.
Dan Crosby and Niles both dove for the Sunbirds last season, but narrowly missed a national cut. This season both have posted multiple scores to qualify for Nationals and will look to score high at the meet for the men.
Head Dive Coach KO Crosby, Dan’s father, explained, “I’m impressed with the progress [Dan] has made in just his second year diving.”
Dan Crosby had no previous diving experience except for family tradition. Dan Crosby is a fourth generation diver, including his coach and father KO Crosby who dove for Fresno State in the 1970s.
Dan Crosby commented on his own accomplishments, “It’s been a goal [to make Nationals], and finally being able to achieve it was a great feeling,” Dan continued about his expectations at Nationals, “Anything can happen with diving. It’s such a small field; it’s easy to move up quickly. Diving makes a difference [for our team] and it’s a great feeling to be a part of that this season.”