English Schools Finals
Saturday 15th November saw the representatives from Division 8 claim second place in the 59th English Schools Diving Championships. The eight diver team was made up of six Cambridge divers and two from Southend. The team performed to the highest ability with the Cambridge divers taking both a silver and a bronze medal, and the Southend divers taking a gold and a silver.
Lucy Cliff (Parkside Community College) performed five dives from the 1m and 3m springboards of an outstanding quality to finish in second place in the Junior Girls age group. In a closely fought competition, Lucy had to battle hard to finish just 1 point above third place with a total of 172.8. The highlight of Lucy's list of dives was a back one and half somersaults with one and half twists to score a 6 average from the judges. Lucy's quiet but determined nature proved to be a very useful tool to have in reserve.
In the Junior Boys age group, Daniel Goodfellow (Melbourn Village College) dived into bronze medal position in a competition of both big skills and big failures. The final results show just 5 points separated the top three in this age group and with all divers dropping at least one of their dives, it really was a nail biting competition. Despite all the ups and downs, Daniel showed competitive maturity to compose himself and finish with a back one and half somersaults with a half twist on the 1m springboard to score over 30 points.
Just missing out on the medals, Ben Sambrook and Martin Christensen came in fourth in their respective age groups. Ben, of Linton Village College, was diving in the company of Junior internationals and held his own in a manner admired by other coaches. Martin, being the youngest diver of the day, suffered from an attack of nerves during the pre-competition training but managed to pull himself together to put in a solid performance.
Emma Watson (Coton Primary School) competed in the Primary Girls age group and finished in sixth position with a total of 92.9 points. Although being out-tariffed on her list of dives by the other competitors it was clear to see that Emma will be out scoring these divers in future competitions. Nathaniel Doza finished the day's competitions and dived well considering a troubled training schedule in the build up to the event.
Joining the Cambridge divers were Lottie Thompson and Ellie Osborne from Southend. Lottie, diving in the Senior Girls age group, dominated the competition right from the first round and convincingly won gold with a total of 294.85 points (40 points above second place). Lottie's reverse two and half somersaults with tuck from the 3m springboard was one of the highest scoring dives of the day and with a splashless entry through the water it underpinned Lottie as a true champion for the third consecutive year. In Ellie's age group a head-to-head battle commenced for first and second place. During the competition the lead changed hands after every single dive. Unfortunately Ellie dropped her back two and half somersaults with tuck from the 3m which meant she was playing catch up. An inward two and half somersaults with tuck scored impressive 7.5s from the judges and wowed the crowd but the gap was 14 points too many for Ellie to claim gold. Ellie finished in second place with a total of 245.2.
Posted 28/11/2008