Salvitti Dives On at UCLA

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

In a sport where the smaller the splash, the higher you score Maya Salvitti had a freshman season to be proud of in the pool and in the classroom at her dream school, UCLA.

The former Palisades High diver made the Director’s Honor Roll for the fall and winter semesters. She was a CSCAA Scholar Second Team All-American and qualified for Zones off the 1-meter board. She was third-best on her team in both 1-meter (297.23) and 3-meter (258.40) and finished No. 40 overall in 1-meter at Zones with a score of 229.40. She was runner-up in 1-meter (297.23) versus Cal on Jan. 29 and at the Pac-12 Championships she placed 14th in 1-meter (228.70), 13th in platform (183.95), and 16th in 3-meter (206.90). She was third in 1-meter (259.50) during the UCSD dual meet on January 8. She hopes to improve her form as a sophomore, beginning at the Fresno State Invitational on Oct. 7-8 and including the Trojan Diving Invitational (Nov. 11-13) and USA Diving Winter Nationals (Dec. 14-18). In addition, UCLA will host its annual Bruin Diving Invitational Jan. 13-15 at Spieker Aquatics Center.

Salvitti was a member of City Section championship swim teams every year at Pali High and was a three-time Junior Nationals qualifier while competing for Los Angeles Diving Club. In spring of 2021 she won the City Diving  title and qualified for the CIF state meet. She won the 3-meter and was second in the 1-meter at the 2021 Lee Brennan Memorial Invitational and finished ninth in the 3-meter at the 2021 Junior National Championships.

Born in Los Angeles and a Brentwood resident, Maya is the daughter of proud parents John and Shoko Salvitti and she had wanted to attend UCLA since she was at Warner Avenue elementary school. An admirer of tennis player Naomi Osaka, she is also an accomplished musician, playing the alto saxophone, flute and ukulele. She aspires to be a forensic pathologist once her diving days are done. Her collegiate bests so far are 297.23 in the 1-meter; 258.40 in the 3-meter and 205.45 off the platform.

She prefers platform because she finds it less unpredictable than springboard despite the significant difference in height. Her favorite dive is back two-and-a-half tuck on a 3-meter board. She credits her success to her club coach, Wei Wei, who was a member of the Chinese National Team, and to Tom Davidson, her coach at Palisades. A fearless competitor, she is not afraid to try new, more difficult, dives.      

Salvitti, who attended Paul Revere Middle School prior to Pali High, was second behind teammate Alexis Kleshik at the City Diving finals her freshman year but was injured her sophomore season and high school diving was canceled her junior year because of the coronavirus outbreak. She was a competitive gymnast for six years before becoming a diver.