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E-mail StoryRookie divers make splash in D-2 finals
| Friday, May 9 2008 10:55 PM
Last Updated: Friday, May 9 2008 11:10 PM
Less than a year ago Taft's Casey Dean and West's Kyle Spoon had never taken a single plunge into the pool as competitive divers.
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Garces' Jordan Finch enters the water as the judges keep a close watch on his dive in the Division II diving championships Friday at McMurtrey Aquatic Center.
But on Friday the two rookie divers proved that they are quick learners when both finished in the top five of the Central Section Division II Diving Championships at the McMurtrey Aquatic Center.
Dean's fourth-place finish was the best among the five local boys divers in the field.
"Overall I thought I did pretty well," said Dean. "But the people that won definitely deserved to win."
Spoon, a former swimmer, took home a fifth-place medal.
"It's a mental challenge," Spoon said. "You've just got to concentrate on what your dive is going to be. It's kind of hard. I'm a little hyper some times but once I concentrate I do pretty well."
Porterville's Joshua Dieterle ultimately won the boys competition, outscoring second-place finisher James Bonham of Yosemite 385.14 to 347.61.
Exeter's Sierra Edwards beat out Anna Griggs of Porterville-Granite Hills 297.69 to 276.84 to win the girls title.
Garces' Kate Malloy was the top finishing local girl. Malloy, one of three Rams in the field, scored 227.88 points to place sixth.
Her two teammates Nicole Madrilejo and Courtney Lee both narrowly missed winning medals. Madrilejo finished ninth, while Lee, who led the 15-girl field after round one, wound up in 10th place.
The Rams' top diver, Lindsey Jensen, was scratched from the meet for medical reasons.
Dieterle, the defending Central Section champion, almost wasn't even allowed to compete on Friday.
"The superintendent (of schools) said the dive team was missing too much school so they wanted us to choose between this and Division I," Dieterle said. It was all just a bunch of confusing stuff. All I really wanted to do was dive. I ended up getting that chance but it kind of messed with my mind."
Edwards racked up high marks with her explosiveness off the board and clean entries into the water.
"I think I did OK today," Edwards said.
She trailed Griggs by 1.26 points after six rounds. But Edwards seemed to get stronger as the competition went along.