On Feb. 22, the State High Diving Team kicked off a big weekend of wins with the District VI Diving Championship in the Natatorium. Senior Tassia St. Pierre of the girls team took first place with a score of 349.65 total points and set a new pool record. Meanwhile, junior Chris Hill finished as the boys champion with a total of 347.50 points.
State High Freshman Varrah Gramling placed second in the girls competition with 319.05 total points and senior Anna Loeher earned third place with 268.25 total points. On the boy’s side, Senior Andrew Lipski took second place with 239.60 total points.
The championship featured each diver competing with 11 dives of varying complexity. According to the 2023-2024 National Federation of State High School Officials Diving Manual, dives are evaluated on a 10-point scale on aspects like starting position, approach, takeoff, flight, and entry. The scores were then multiplied by the complexity of the dive to determine the final score of each diver.
Head Coach Aaron Workman cited Tassia’s broken record as a highlight of the meet.
“Tassia breaking the record was easily one of the most memorable moments of the meet,” Workman said, “It was a long-standing record, and now she has her name on the board. Also, great diving from everyone from dive 1-11.”
Workman is excited about the future prospects of the State High Diving Team. “While I don’t get to see them a lot, the growth of our seniors and newcomers was really amazing to watch from the first meet to the most recent.”
This satisfaction carries on to his thoughts about the immediate future of the State High Diving team, which Workman is largely optimistic about. “I am very excited for the state [championship] meet later this year,” Workman said, “Having Chris and Tassia qualify again is exciting because they were able to compete there last season, so they will be ready to score for us this year!”
Finally, Workman would like to send out a message to everyone in State High as a show of gratitude for their support. “Thank you all for the support and following our team, please keep cheering them on as we approach the state championships!”
On March 13 and 14, the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be held at Bucknell University with Tassia St. Pierre diving for the girls team and Chris Hill diving for the boys team.
