After a mishap at the 2011 NCAA Championships dislocated her right elbow, diver Maren Taylor opted to redshirt what would have been her third year, the 2011-12 season, to heal. Now, she has recovered, is back on the board and headed to Spain to compete in the FINA World Championships.
Taylor earned a spot in the individual three-meter diving event at the Championships beginning July 19 in Barcelona, Spain. She will be the only American woman to compete in the event and is the first Texas diver to represent the U.S. in international competition since Laura Wilkinson in 2008. Texas diving coach Matt Scoggin will join her as an assistant coach on the team.
To qualify, divers competed in the 2013 USA Diving World Trials and had to earn a minimum of 903 points with a combined degree of difficulty of 14.8 in the finals. Taylor finished with a 905.50 points and a 14.8 difficulty level on her five dives.
Scoggin said the meet was successful and proved what Taylor could do especially after her disappointing NCAA trip.
“What Maren did today was exactly what we thought she’d be able to do in the three-meter event at the NCAA Championships,” Scoggin said. “Her three-meter finish at NCAAs was disappointing, but she was able to shake it off. That’s a big key to her success. She moved on, prepared for this meet and knew she could do this today."
During the season, Taylor brought her Big 12 title total to three and was selected as the Big 12 Diver of the Year. She earned All-America honors in the one-meter and platform events this year at the 2013 NCAA Championships, giving her All-American awards for each year she has competed.
