Auburn Diving Invitational: Tennessee’s Day 3 results
A trio of University of Tennessee divers posted top-5 finishes in Day 3 of the Auburn Diving Invitational Friday.
In the men’s 3M springboard competition, two Volunteers had top-5 marks and every Tennessee athlete that reached the finals made the top-10.
Bryden Hattie finished second in the event as he scored 410.15 points in the finals.
Matthew Wade came in fifth with a score of 346.35. Jacob Reasor took seventh (331.60) and Dillon Richardson claimed eighth with a mark of 319.40.
In the women’s platform competition, three Lady Vols had top scores as Kara Holt finished third with 260.40 points. Grace Cable was fourth (259.75) and Elle Renner came in fifth with a score of 259.30.
Tennessee’s Madison Reese finished 13th (184.20) and Emily Ann Wolfson came in 14th as she scored 148.70 points.
The Auburn Invitational concludes Saturday with the men’s platform competition.
Auburn Diving Invitational: Tennessee’s Day 2 results
A Lady Vols’ diver captured a victory at the Auburn Diving Invitational Thursday, the second day of the event.
Grace Cable won the 3-meter springboard competition (321.15).
Cable, a senior from Winter Park, Florida and transfer from Florida State, opened the Auburn event Wednesday with a second-place finish in the 1-meter springboard (285.15).
Other Lady Vols who were in the 3-meter event included Elle Renner (263.00), Kara Holt (250.15) and Emily Ann Wolfson (243.85).
Tennessee freshman Madison Reese took fifth in the 3-meter with a score of 275.05.
The men’s competition opened on Thursday with the 1-meter springboard competition.
Volunteers’ Bryden Hattie, a sophomore from Victoria, British Columbia took fifth in the event with a score of 347. 15 in the finals.
He posted a personal-best mark of 378.70 in the preliminaries, which represents the eighth best mark in UT program history.
A Hawaii-based photographer was astonished Friday to spot a 15-foot great white shark swimming toward him off Kona on the Big Island.
A Hawaii-based photographer was astonished Friday to spot a 15-foot great white shark swimming toward him off Kona on the Big Island.
Deron Verbeck told FTW Outdoors that he was freediving and first spotted the shark about 100 feet below the surface. “But she turned and came up into about 30 feet when I got all the shots and video,” he said.
The accompanying video shows the shark’s close approach as Verbeck captures video footage with a GoPro while also shooting stills. (Video is best viewed with volume.)
Great white shark sightings are rare in Hawaii, but adult white sharks from Mexico and California seasonally visit island waters.
After the encounter, Verbeck joked on Facebook: “Well check this one off the list of things ‘I shouldn’t have been swimming with.’ My first ever GREAT WHITE SHARK! And it happened to be in Kona and a 5-minute drive from my house!”
The renowned freediver told KHON 2 that he first thought he had spotted a tiger shark but quickly recognized the classic shape of a large female white shark.
“It just kept getting bigger and bigger and I was like, ‘That is for sure, 100% a great white,’ ” Verbeck said. “And I just shot as much as I could as she went by, and she just disappeared back off the drop, then I was just shaking like, ‘Woah! That was insane!’ ”
The shark, although inquisitive, did not seem to regard Verbeck as prey.
Carl Meyer of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology told KHON 2 that white sharks might be attracted to island waters by the seasonal abundance of humpback whales. (White sharks are known to feast on whale carcasses.)
Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute stated on Instagram that “after a quick scan” the shark did not match any of the nearly 400 white sharks in the photo-identification catalog from Mexico’s Guadalupe Island.
Deep Blue, said by some to be the largest great white shark ever documented, measuring about 20 feet, is in the Guadalupe Island database and has been spotted in Hawaiian waters.
Domeier said his research team suspects that “this beautiful female is from the Central California Tribe or Pt. Conception Tribe” of white sharks.
Domeier stated that the shark “was spotted literally right in front of my house. This is the stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning with a smile!”
Verbeck is an award-winning photographer who specializes in shooting while freediving, or on a single breath without scuba gear. Many of his photos are shared via Instagram.
Wow. So, perfect 10’s really do exist. China’s Quan Hongchan just proved it to us with one of the best diving performances we’ve ever seen — literally.
The 14-year-old diving phenom scored not one, but two, perfect 10’s on dives in her very first international competition in the women’s 10-meter platform final. Just typing that out, it doesn’t even seem possible. But it happened. She was really perfect.
The wild part is that if the Games had happened as scheduled last summer, Quan wouldn’t be here. She would’ve been too young to qualify. But she’s here now. And she’ll leave the Games as the absolute best diver in the world with a flawless performance under her belt.
The first 10 came here.
A PERFECT DIVE‼️
14-year-old Quan Hongchan from China receives 10s across the board on her dive in the women's 10m platform final. #TokyoOlympics
A Florida diver set two records recently by spearing and removing a large lionfish from the Gulf of Mexico.
A Florida diver set two records recently by spearing and removing a large lionfish from the Gulf of Mexico.
The lionfish measured 18.7 inches and weighed 3.77 pounds, making it the longest and heaviest of its species speared in Florida’s Gulf waters.
Whitfield, while diving June 10 off Okaloosa County, was participating in a state-sponsored program that encourages the removal of invasive lionfish by any legal means of fishing.
“Wow, nice, good riddance,” reads one of several Facebook comments praising Whitfield for his catch.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, two species of lionfish native to the Indo-Pacific have “invaded” Florida waters and may pose a significant threat to native wildlife and habitat.
The predatory and venomous reef fish were first discovered off Florida’s Atlantic Coast in 1985. They’ve since multiplied and spread northward in the Atlantic, into the Caribbean, and into Gulf waters.
Lionfish tips scale at 3.77 pounds. Photo: FWC
In 2014 the FWC began to evaluate the lionfish population and develop outreach programs and remove regulatory barriers regarding the removal of lionfish.
The state now offers prize incentives and sponsors tournaments specific to lionfish. The annual Lionfish Challenge is an integral link in the population control effort.
In 2019, 25,000 lionfish were removed during the Challenge. In 2020, 21,569 lionfish were harvested and David Connerth was proclaimed Lionfish King after he removed 1,141 lionfish via recreational fishing methods.
Gary Whitfield (right) poses with record lionfish. Photo: FWC
Isidoro Bedoya was named Commercial Champion after removing 1,196.5 pounds of lionfish.
The state also recognizes weight and length records in spearfishing and hook-and-line categories for Atlantic and Gulf waters.
Whitfield’s speared lionfish, at 3.77 pounds, is the heaviest overall. The angling weight record stands at 2.3 pounds, set by Darren Parker in the Gulf in 2016.
On Monday we shared video footage showing an orca’s extraordinary leap while attacking a dolphin Sunday in Mexico’s Sea Of Cortez. Late Monday a sharper clip surfaced showing the same incident, but from a different angle.
On Monday we shared video footage showing an orca’s extraordinary leap while attacking a dolphin Sunday in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. Late Monday a sharper clip surfaced, showing the same incident from a different angle.
The footage, captured by Afrelandra Glez. Cibrián, shows the orca slamming the dolphin during a vertical charge and vault of about 15 feet. (Best viewed with sound.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPACJZ2g9Yg/
“Orcas should always be free to jump out of the water and follow their natural instincts!” the Instagram description reads. “They don’t deserve to be used as human entertainment and be kept in captivity.”
The predation at Cabo Pulmo, a dive spot north of Cabo San Lucas, occurred after several boats had gathered to view an orca pod of about 10 animals. The footage below was captured via cellphone by Miguel Cuevas of Cabo Pulmo Divers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO-we3PgF9P/
The orcas killed the dolphin during a scene that played out over several hours. Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, or killer whales, often prey on marine mammals.
Boaters in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez were amazed Sunday as an orca leaped 15 feet clear of the surface while attacking a dolphin.
Boaters in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez were astonished Sunday as an orca leaped 15 feet clear of the surface while attacking a bottlenose dolphin.
The accompanying footage, captured by Miguel Cuevas of Cabo Pulmo Divers, shows the orca launching itself and the dolphin as the orca rammed the smaller mammal during a high-speed vertical charge. (Best viewed with sound.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO80C_0AiJi/
The predation event at Cabo Pulmo, a dive spot north of Cabo San Lucas, occurred after several boats had gathered to view an orca pod as it hunted dolphins.
Cabo Pulmo Divers described the great leap as an “amazing moment” on Facebook.
Orca slams dolphin at the surface. Photo: Miguel Cuevas
Researchers who had seen the video tried late Sunday to obtain more information about the encounter and to determine whether any males accompanied the pod.
They noted that another Instagram post contains underwater footage – viewers must swipe to the third clip – of the orcas’ dolphin pursuit. (See post below.)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO9LlMrlWYX/
Cuevas told For The Win Outdoors that he counted “at least 10 orcas,” all females, and that the predation event, although it involved just the one kill, lasted several hours.
He estimated the height of the leap to be “four to five meters.”
Eastern Tropical Pacific orcas, or killer whales, prey largely on marine mammals and mobula rays, which are abundant in the gulf. The orcas are known to express curiosity toward boaters and to occasionally surf in vessels’ wakes.
On April 20, farther north in Bahia de los Angeles, several orcas from a pod of 12, including a young calf, swam so closely to a panga that one of its passengers later recalled, “I laughed and cried and was in utter disbelief.”
–Images courtesy of Miguel Cuevas/Cabo Pulmo Divers
A wildlife photographer this week shared a “super rare” photo showing a large sea snake breaching nearly clear of the surface over the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea.
A wildlife photographer this week shared a “super rare” photo showing a large sea snake breaching nearly clear of the surface over the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea.
The eye-catching image caused some of Rachelle Mackintosh’s Instagram followers to look twice while trying to figure out precisely what they were seeing.
But Mackintosh assured in her description that it was an olive sea snake, a venomous reef predator that typically remains hidden by day, breaking the surface in what seemed a bizarre behavior.
She was on a multi-day diving expedition at Ribbon Reefs, a remote section of the Great Barrier Reef known for its marine diversity and pristine waters, “to spend a few days swimming with dwarf minke whales.”
“One of the coolest things about them is that their vocalizations sound like Jedi light sabres in action,” Mackintosh joked. “They’re also very friendly and will hang out around the boat for hours on end.”
But for several moments, the olive sea snake stole the spotlight.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNlQXxVFWA4/
“The snake seemed to appear from nowhere and swam on the surface for a couple of seconds, when suddenly it started doing this weird little move where it would slightly lift its head, like it was looking for something,” Mackintosh recalled. “Then it did this full kind of lift out of the water and then splashed down and disappeared again.
“It was super surreal – and one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
Mackintosh said she was told by a researcher that the snake might have been trying to escape predation by sharks, or merely inspecting its surroundings, or simply engaging in playful behavior.
Olive sea snakes are common along Australia’s northern coast and among the reef systems that comprise the Great Barrier Reef. They must surface to breathe but can remain submerged for about two hours.
They typically hunt small fish and crustaceans, primarily at night, and hide in the reefs during the day. While the sea snakes are not aggressive toward humans, they will bite if threatened or harassed, and bites can be fatal.
