Four Red Raider divers qualify for the state meet
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – The athletes have different reasons for getting into competitive diving for the Ocean City High School team – being encouraged by friends, the thrill, an excuse to do a lot of flips, even a family legacy.
And here may be the best part – if they fall, they don’t get hurt. Just wet.
OK, they get wet even if they do everything right.
After a Saturday morning competition at Egg Harbor Township High School Saturday morning, Red Raiders divers talked about what attracted them to the sport that has them springing up in the air, doing flips and twists and turns, and trying to enter the water as straight as possible, with toes pointed and creating as little splash as possible.
Ocean City has a large team and four of the swimmers have qualified for the state meet – Alexandra Trimble, Sophia Whelan, Nico Dounoulis and Cole LaBarre.
LaBarre, a sophomore from Margate, has been diving only for two years. When he was in eighth grade, someone dared him to do a backflip.
“I always wanted to learn how to flip so that summer I was flipping a lot,” he said. That caught the attention of lifeguards. “They told me I should go out for diving. I never really considered it until then. I went out for diving last year and I liked it so much I did it again this year.”
What attracts him to the sport? “The thrill of it,” he said. “I had background experience that no one else had so it gave me a different perspective of diving. I knew different techniques and it helped me. I just enjoy flipping in general.” He plans to keep diving through the rest of high school.
He said his best dive “used to be a back one two-and-a-half twist. That was my highest scoring dive.”
His favorite dive, however, “is probably a reverse two because it scares me so much so I like to do it.”
Whelan, a sophomore from Ocean City, is in her second year of diving.
“I kind of just decided to do it because my friends were doing it and it seemed fun,” she said. Whelan enjoys it to help pass the time.
“It’s just an activity to do in the winter when there’s nothing else to do. It’s fun,” Whelan aid.
Her favorite dive is the forward one and a half. She said that also can be her best dive. “It depends on how it goes,” she noted, laughing.
Julia Quintin, also of Ocean City, is a senior who has been on the team all four years of high school. A family member and her own background convinced her to join the team.
“My grandmom actually dove in high school and she held the record for a long time where she was from, which was DelCo (Delaware County), which is pretty cool,” Quinton said. “I also had a gymnastics and dance background so I just wanted to do something in the winter to stay active.”
Her favorite dive is a reverse dive in pike position. It’s also her best dive.
She is happy to be back after the COVID-shortened season last year.
“I’m just taking it in as much as I can especially since we’re having a full season,” she said. “I can’t take it for granted. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and the rest of the school year.”
Dounoulis said he just began diving in October.
He was drawn to diving because his friends did it and encouraged him to come out for the team. “I kind of like it a lot,” he said. He’s apparently a fast learned.
“I actually just qualified for states so I’m happy about that and want to see where that takes me,” he said.
His favorite and best dive is a reverse pike. “I like doing it. It’s fun,” he said.
Trimble, a junior from Cape May Court House, said her favorite dive is a back double “because I actually learned how to do it by accident.”
She explained that her best dive is a back one and a half. “I learned my back double while trying to do my back one and a half but over-rotated and I made it,” Trimble said, pointing out, “And it was legal.”
She has been diving for six years; she also does club diving.
“I used to be a gymnast but I had a bad injury so it was an easy conversion so I could continue to do a sport. I love it,” she said.
The best thing? Compared to gymnastics, “It doesn’t hurt if you fall.”
Lindsay Tate, a sophomore from Brigantine, just started diving this season and hasn’t been in competitions yet because she doesn’t have six dives – the minimum needed to compete. She still likes attending meets to help out and manage the team.
Tate decided to try diving because she was a junior varsity swimmer and the schedule for swimming and diving were opposite, so she gave it a shot.
“I’ve made a lot of new friends,” Tate said. “It’s quite fun and it’s not as tiring as swimming.”
She really likes the front dive.
Coach Amy Kohl, in her fourth year of leading the team, has three seniors plus a senior manager, but no freshmen on the 15-member team.
“We have a really big group of sophomores so as next year comes around we’re going to be a dynamite team because we have a lot of returning kids,” Kohl said. “They’re from all over. They come and work hard every day. That’s why we keep at it and the team keeps growing.”
She is proud of the fact four of the divers qualified for the state meet and happy the team has had the time to train for it after a limited season last year due to COVID.
“It’s great to be back. It took a little bit of time to get where we’re at now, but now that the restrictions have been lifted we’ve definitely been able to get back in the pool to train real hard,” she said.
“I think it’s a great sport because it not only teaches the kids how to control their body with shaping, it teaches them mental strength and dedication because you really have to be committed to this sport to excel.”
Caitlin Laurson is a senior and came out this season to be a manager for the team. She loves watching the sport.
“I always thought it was so cool how they dived. And I think their talent is so interesting,” she said. “I just like watching every dive that they do.”
One dive that really impresses her is the reverse two somersault.
Did she ever try it? “No,” she said, smiling. However, there’s going to be a fun practice when she also gets the chance to go into the pool with the dives.
“I think just trying whatever they do would be so cool,” Laurson said.
Story and photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
