Canisius College diving coach Meili Carpenter competed in the 2011 USA Diving Winter National Championships held in Iowa City, Iowa on Jan. 30 to Feb. 6. Carpenter for a second-consecutive year qualified and competed in the one-meter and three-meter finals where she took second and ninth-place respectively. Her performance also qualified her for the Olympic trials.

Carpenter who is in her first season on the Canisius College coaching staff earned a final-score of 281.05 in the one-meter springboard event which was only 2.85 points behind the leader, World Cup sliver medalist Kelci Bryant. Carpenter also qualified for the final-round in the three-meter springboard competition securing 605.70 points, which was good enough for ninth-place.

Carpenter, a 2009 graduate from the University at Buffalo, enjoyed a storied career as a part of the Bulls' swimming and diving team. The Boulder, Colo. native was a four-time All-MAC honoree (2007-10) and three-time Division I NCAA Qualifier (1m, 3m, platform). Carpenter was also named University at Buffalo Female Athlete of the Year in 2010 after becoming a National Diving Championship finalist in the 1m and 3m diving events. She was also named to the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I University Division Second Team.

Carpenter has helped Canisius improve their diving results throughout the 2010-11 season as sophomore Alex Gigliotti set a new school-record in the three-meter diving event earning 263.62 points breaking a record that was set back in 2007.

The next time the Griffs will take to the pool will be for the 2011 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships scheduled for Feb. 17-19. Canisius will be co-hosting the event, which will be held at the Burt Flickenger Center in Buffalo, N.Y.