OCEAN CITY — Diminutive senior Emily Russo will have her name writ large on the records board at the Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center pool after breaking the 11-dive record at a home meet Jan. 29.
Russo, a former gymnast turned diver, scored 454 points, shattering the 2019 record of 434.95 points by Isabella Wamsher. Russo has set her sights on Wamsher’s six-dive record of 272.45 points, hoping to eclipse that before the season is over.
“It’s a sigh of relief,” Russo said. “I’m so proud. It’s been a goal since the beginning of the season. It definitely did seem unreachable in the beginning, but I’ve been putting in a bunch of work at every practice and I’m just so proud of getting it.”
Head swim coach Nate Garza said he was at a loss for words after seeing Russo set the record.
“It’s something we’ve been looking at and it’s easy to see because it’s right behind us every single day,” he said, referring to the massive record board on the east end of the pool.
“We’ve been looking at the number for two years now and it seemed out of reach for a little while, but in the last couple of weeks, with the progress she’s made and the work she’s put in every day, it seemed closer and closer,” Garza said.
“Once we got through three or four dives today, I was doing the tally myself, and I was like, this is within range. As we got into the last rounds, I knew she had it,” he said.
The 17-year-old Ocean City resident has been diving for only three years, but spent 12 years in gymnastics prior to that.
In recent weeks, Russo won the South Jersey six-dive and 11-dive meets. Those victories, she said, felt “awesome. That was a goal since sophomore year to win South Jerseys and I achieved that this year,” she said.
Russo attributed her success to getting more experience.
“It was hard in the beginning, getting used to not landing on the floor like I did in gymnastics,” she said.
Russo said she quit gymnastics her freshman year after reaching level nine, and tried running instead.
“I started running and I ended up not liking it. I did winter track and it was just way too cold,” Russo said, smiling. “I just told myself I’m going to join diving because I think I’d have some decent background because of gymnastics.
“I thought I would join in and see where it took me.”
With the 11-dive record and South Jersey titles under her belt, the daughter of Kim and Dave Russo said she’s aiming for the six-dive record, which she hoped to get before the season was up.
She also is preparing for the state dive meet. Last year she finished 11th.
“I’m hoping to finish top 10, even top five at states this year,” Russo said.
Although she has the talent to take her skills onto the next level and was asked to, the diver said she won’t be competing in college. She is headed to Monmouth University, where she plans to major in nursing.
Garza said this is his second year coaching the boys and girls diving team.
“I’ll tell you what makes it really easy. When you have athletes like Emily Russo, she gives it all every single day and is always looking for feedback. When they’re willing to put in the work, as a coach it makes it pretty easy.”
Garza has a varsity team, a junior varsity team and a freshman novice team, “really quite a mix of people.”
He said a lot of the boys on the team are surfers he recruited. Garza also coaches the surf team.
“I recruited some of them to try to fill out the ranks a little bit, maybe loosen things up and see if that would help get the girls to try more things,” Garza said. “Emily taking the record and the other numbers that we are seeing from the other girls, I think it’s really helped out.
The coach said Luke Chickadel has qualified for states and he believes fellow divers Jude McAfee and James Carr also will qualify.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
