On Saturday, November 11th, the Cambridge divers took to the boards for the first meet of the season.
The Early Bird Dive Invitational at Marist is a great way for the divers to get a look at the competition they will have in the upcoming season and get the first meet jitters out of the way. Last year, Cambridge graduated the top boy and girl divers, so it is up to some new and returning divers to fill their shoes and this weekend showed that many of them are ready to do so.
On the boys' team side, Turner Mignerey is a two-time state diver who is looking for a podium place at the state meet in February. This season, the divers will be scores separately at state, so instead of having the top 10 diver from 6A and 7A together, they will place separately, which is even better for Cambridge and gives an even more optimistic outlook for Mignerey's chances of getting on stage. Already meeting his state meet required points and degree of difficulty, Mignerey can now focus on nailing his most challenging dives and practices those at the upcoming meets. Mignerey finished in second place overall, and even outscoring some of the top competitors he faced last season. The tone has been set for a great season.
A new diver to the program is Maddox Riddick. As a sophomore with no dive experience, Riddick has taken to the sport extremely well. Already in his first meet, he was able to complete all six dives and place sixth overall among the 6-dive competitors. As a young diver, we are excited about what Riddick will be able to contribute this season and how he will develop in the coming years.
On the girls' team side we see significant growth in numbers, which is really exciting! Margeaux Messier was the only girl to compete in the 11-dive competition, and while her degree of difficulty wasn't there yet to qualify for state, her technique and scores show significant improvement from last season. As only a sophomore, we anticipate Messier has three state meet appearances ahead of her in the coming years. Messier finished sixth overall.
Haley Copeland is back for her third season and as a state meet competitor last year, she is preparing herself for another appearance. For this meet, Copeland only attempted her 6-dive routine and took fourth place, but we anticipate that in the upcoming meets she will rehearse her state meet routine and will get her qualifying score to set her up for February. With some experience under her belt, we should see big things from Copeland this season.
Noor El-Gazairly is another returning diver that shows tremendous promise. In this meet, she placed just behind Copeland in fifth place and is showing a lot of improvement. Dealing with some muscle strain, El-Gazairly wasn't at her full capacity last weekend, but we expect to see her also attempting a fuller and more challenging routine in the upcoming meets where she can also qualify for state.
In terms of new divers this season, Cambridge diving is so excited to have Kate McKay, who completed her 6-dive routine on Saturday and finished in seventh overall. Even as a new diver, McKay looks like a seasoned diver. Struggling with an injury made it difficult to finish her dives on Saturday, but once her cast comes off we expect that she will be back in action. Other new divers include Megan Havlecik and Tat Trierweiller who will be contributing to the diving team this year, but were unable to compete this past weekend.
The divers will compete at the South Forsyth Quad Meet at Cumming Aquatic Center with the swimmers on Monday, November 20th. The meet will begin at about 10:15 AM with the swimming events, and the diving will take place in the middle of the meet around approximately 11:00 AM.
Go Bears!