Master's diver adds another event to her nationals itinerary

The 2019-2020 season has seen plenty of program firsts for The Master's University's swim and dive teams.

Back in November, the men made history by qualifying for NAIA nationals in the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays. Two months later, freshman Courtney Simpson qualified in the 3-meter diving event.

The program made history once again at Fresno Pacific University on Saturday, with Simpson becoming the first diver for The Master's University to qualify for nationals in the 1-meter diving event.

Simpson earned her place in the history books with a score of 189.79, nearly 10 points more than the NAIA standard requires. 

On the men's side, freshman Xavier Gutierrez hit the "B" cut in the 100-yard butterfly.

Gutierrez, who had already hit NAIA qualifying times before signing with The Master's University, previously qualified for the bonus cut in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles back last semester. Since he also helped TMU qualify two relays for nationals, Gutierrez can use his "B" qualification to enter a "bonus" event at nationals. 

The Mustangs had already qualified for nationals in the 200-yard medley (Gutierrez, Garrett Cargile, Raymie Matiashowski and Brandon Watson) and 200-freestyle relays (Gutierrez, Cargile, Watson and Mazen Hussein). 

On the women's side, Madison Eaton, Yasmine Corel, Simone Williams, and Faith Cancik were also able to meet the NAIA qualifying standard for the 200-medley relay, an event Master's had previously qualified for along with the 200-freestyle relay back in October.

The Mustang swim and dive team now prepares to head to the Pacific Collegiate Swimming and Diving Conference Championships in La Mirada, California, in less than two weeks, which is their last stop before the NAIA Championships in March.