ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Saturday morning, Carissa Gaffy-Sanford competed at the Warner Palestra Pool for the last time in her collegiate diving career, and she made sure she went out with a bang.
Gaffy-Sanford, a senior on the College of Saint Benedict swimming and diving team, not only won the three-meter diving competition in a dual against St. Thomas, she won with a new career-best, which also happens to be the second-best score in CSB history.
The win marked one of Gaffy-Sanford’s four top-four finishes over the weekend to cap off her home career. For her big weekend, she has been named the CSB Athlete of the Week.
Gaffy-Sanford, a Sauk Rapids native, started the weekend with a pair of second-place finishes in a dual against St. Kate’s Friday night in Collegeville. She scored a 203.65 in the one-meter competition and a 214.5 in the three-meter competition, and finished second to Jenna Nagy – the two-time defending MIAC Diver of the Year – in both events.
Saturday morning, Gaffy-Sanford kicked off the day with a fourth-place in the one-meter dive against St. Thomas with a score of 195.16. In the three-meter competition, Gaffy-Sanford scored a 237.20 – nearly two points better than her previous personal best, and the second-best three-meter score in school history. She beat the second-place finisher by nearly four points in her final event on the Blazers’ senior day.
Saturday’s win marked the fourth of the season for Gaffy-Sanford. She won the three-meter competition at both the Hamline Invite and the Blazers’ dual against MSU-Moorhead, and she also won the one-meter diving competition at the Hamline Invite. Prior to Saturday, Gaffy-Sanford’s best three-meter score this season was a 228.6 at Hamline.
Gaffy-Sanford and the Blazers are off until Dec. 4-5 when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Jean Freeman Invite. The invite, which features NCAA Division I competition, is at the U of M Aquatic Center.
