Taylor finished in fourth place with 414.75 total score while Rasmusson scored 363.35 points to finish in fifth place. Kaisa Stanley finished in 10th place with a score of 283.15.

“Good meet,” MHS head coach Angie Nelson said. “I love the 414, love the 363, Kaisa came back really well after her failed dive. She finished the meet very well. I would have liked to see Hannah come in third or second.”

Similar to the conference meet, Taylor had a slow start on her first two dives. Taylor opened with a score of 31.50 on an inward dive and then followed with a 28.80 on a reverse dive.

“[She] had a rough go on her first two dives, it was just not quite spot on,” Nelson said. “She wasn’t really very far off, that’s her highest score, but she wasn’t all that far off for where she has been at. Just had a little rough start there.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Bobcat sophomore Mia Rasmusson shows off her fifth-place medal following Thursday’s regional diving meet at Southeast Polk.

Like last week, Taylor rebounded with a 44-point dive on a back one-and-a-half somersault, a 50.60-point dive from an inward one-and-a-half somersault and then a 44.85 back somersault one-and-a-half twists. Afterward, Taylor consistently scored between 34 and 38-points for the rest of the night. Taylor’s 414.75 point total ranks her as the 15th-ranked diver heading to the state meet.

“[She] took a little hit on the [forward double somersault] but all in all I’m sure that’s her best score on her inward one and a half,” Nelson. “I’m pretty sure that’s her best score on her [back one-and-a-half somersault] too. I thought maybe we would get more on that [reverse one-and-a-half somersault] but she just missed the finish just a little bit. But that’s her highest score ever and a great way to finish the meet, great way to stay cool under pressure and a great way to just kind of keep doing the good things that you have been doing.”

Rasmusson opened her meet with a 30.60-point dive on a forward one-and-a-half somersault and then back-to-back 40-point dives. Rasmusson scored a 40.70 on a forward double somersault and then a 40.85 on a forward somersault one twist. From there, Rasmusson stayed between 27 and 31-points until her final two dives. For Rasmusson’s final two dives, she scored a 36.55 on back somersault one-and-a-half twist and then a 38.95 from a back somersault one twist.

“This is Mia’s highest score, her highest score before that was a 350,” Nelson said. “She had a really, really consistent meet tonight so she had nothing that was a downer. Everything was solid. [She had a] solid finish, solid height and just nice clean finishes. Really proud of Mia for coming up under pressure and again scoring her highest score here. That’s awesome.”

Rasmusson’s career-best helped her qualify as the 31st of 32 state qualifiers.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Marshalltown sophomore Mia Rasmusson completes her third dive, which scored her 40.85 points on her way to a career-best total of 363.35 and a fifth-place finish at Thursday’s regional meet.

“I was really nervous today, but I just came in here thinking it was just another meet and if I did bad it was ok because I still have two more years to come back,” Rasmusson said. “[I was happy with] just that I was consistent in my scoring and that I had got really good height and I was crisp and feeling really good.

“I did get my highest score for my 11 dives today so I’m really proud of myself about that.”

For the freshman Stanley, despite having an incomplete dive on the night, Nelson was still pleased with her young diver’s performance.

“Kaisa had a decent meet going,” Nelson said. “She had a really nice start with her forward one and a half [as] 36 is probably one of her higher point totals on that. She had some nice sixes in those first three [dives]. Her reverse dive wasn’t stellar, she had some bent knees in there which was throw her out of position so she could only collect four and four and four-and-a-halves. She failed the reverse somersault but then came back and had a nice meet after that with a good finish and a couple of nice scoring dives. Her back somersault half twist was probably the best one she has thrown all season. Good finish for a freshman season for her.”

The diving state meet will be held on Nov. 8 at the Marshalltown YMCA starting at 11 a.m.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

Regional Diving Meet

At Pleasant Hill

1. Sydney Jorgenson, sr., ANK, 524.10

2. Erica Peters, so., ANK, 444.15

3. Dasha Toth, jr., ANK, 419.90

4. Hannah Taylor, jr., MHS, 414.75

5. Mia Rasmusson, so., MHS, 363.35

6. Liz Noll, fr., VAL, 360.55

7. Elyse Porter, sr., VAL, 338.90

8. Naila Rios, so., SEP, 334.50

9. Maddie Chambers, so., SEP, 306.35

10. Kaisa Stanley, fr., MHS, 283.15

11. Keira Fox, so., SEP, 252.20