Six divers from the West Florida Lightning Aquatic team qualified for the East Nationals in Bloomington, Ind., with their recent efforts in the Junior Olympic Spring Regionals in Coral Springs.
Katie Smolen, Kaila Johnston and Cody Dodds competed in both the 1- and 3-meter events, while Ryan Troup and Alex Tillbrook were in the 3-meter and David Peckham the 1-meter.
"David did incredible at regionals and, as a first-timer, it was a surprise that he qualified for nationals," WFLA coach Tony Perriello said. "Obviously, David was nervous, but it was a great learning experience and will help him tremendously as he moves into the 13-and-under age group."
Peckham of Belleair Bluffs said he started diving about two years ago. After placing 15th in the 1-meter for 11-and-under at nationals, the Mildred Helms fourth-grader said he's ready to practice diving year-round.
Dodds learned his repertoire of 3-meter dives in just a month before heading to regionals.
"I had been concentrating on the 1-meter for high school and really didn't have the required dives for the 3," Countryside High freshman Dodds said. "I found, though, that once I learned the dives, if I focused on each one, spotted the water where I would kick, I was all right."
After finishing fourth on the 1- and 3-meter boards at regionals in the 14-15 group, Dodds was 27th at nationals in the 1-meter and 26th in the 3-meter.
Perriello praised Johnston for her strong work ethic and ability to focus. The Clearwater High senior hopes to carry those qualities with her next year while diving for the University of North Florida.
"I was involved in gymnastics before diving," Johnston said, "and I found diving to be a great transitional sport."
Johnston was 28th among the 1-meter divers in the 16-18 age division and 26th in the 3-meter.
"Kaila has come a long way and will be a great fit for North Florida," WFLA assistant coach Jerrod Mills said. Tillbrook, 17, came off a 3-meter regional championship, leading competitors by 40 points, to place fourth at nationals. When the third-place finisher was unable to advance to the American-Canadian Cup due to age ineligibility, Tillbrook was included.
"Alex is a consistent diver with great form," Perriello said. "He's got a lot of natural ability. He has another year before college and he's going to be courted by quite a few schools."
Tillbrook of Largo claims fear helps in his success.
"Fear, especially of hitting the board, helps keep me safe and makes me cautious," Tillbrook said. "You don't just go out without being cautious in your moves. For me, consistency is key to being safe. If your takeoff is bad, likely so will your dive."
Tillbrook has made two trips to national competition but this is his first American-Canadian Cup event in Buffalo, N.Y., this week.
Troup of St. Petersburg, who finished 24th on the 3-meter, struggled with rehabilitating from shoulder surgery, and returned to diving three months ago. He plans to walk on the diving team at the University of Florida.
Smolen, 15, was a gymnast for 11 years and turned to diving when she tired of tumbling.
"Katie has a great attitude and was very impressive in how quickly she learned her dives and some new ones in the last few months," Mills said. Smolen placed 24th on the 1-meter and 23rd on the 3-meter in the 14-15 age group.
"Probably the best thing she learned from nationals was that she needs to increase her degree of difficulty on her dives in order to go to the higher level."
Perriello is a former 16-time All-American who brought 24 years of coaching experience to WFLA last year. Mills, although just 24, has coached high school district champions and state finalists while earning Diving Coach-of-the-Year in the Lake Placid, N.Y., area.
The success of the diving program based at the Southwest Pool in Largo prompted Perriello and Mills to offer satellite programs.
"Diving is such a small sport anyway, we wanted to make the program easily accessible to anyone interested, especially the younger ones," Mills said. To learn more about WFLA diving, visit online www.wfladiving.com or call (727) 518-3126.
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: Suncoast WaterWorks swimmers and teams qualified for U.S. Synchronized Swimming Institute Regional Championships after competing at the Florida Age Group Meet last month.
Finishing first at regionals were trio groups 16-17 intermediate (Rylie Burns, Casey Miller and Jeanine O'Connell); 11-and-under (Sarah Cooke, Kimberly Goyack and Samantha Zohn); 14-15 (Nichole Lee, Abbie Zohn and Keeley Lawner); 16-17 (Andrea Patterson, Darcee Kingsley and Rachel Rooth); duets 11-and-under (Jenna Lee and Logan Worley); 16-17 (Rooth and Lee); solo 12-13 (Kelley Lawner).
First-place teams included 12-13 intermediate, 16-17, 11-and-under and 18-19.
Finishing second: 18-19 trio (Jamie Freshour, Caity Carey and Rachel Farkash); 11-and-under duet (Marissa Foreit and Alicia Hartman); 16-17 duet (Carey and Farkash); 18-19 duet (Meredith Cooke and Freshour); solo 14-15 (Jessica Milam); 18-19 solo (Cooke).
Third place: 11-and-under duet (Sarah Ruggio and Jennifer Aguero); 14-15 (Lawner and Kendall Carey); 12-13 trio (Elise Foreit, Laurie Goyack and Gabrielle Lewis); 16-17 solo (Kingsley); and 12-13 team.
The top three advance to regionals.
Suncoast WaterWorks presents "Synchro De Mayo" May 30 and 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the Southwest Pool in Largo. For information, call (727) 867-4707.
TAEKWONDO: Local athletes earned 12 gold medals, seven silver and six bronze in this month's 2003 Sunshine State Games in Lakeland.
Sarah Collins, Matthew Merwin and Nickalaus Clark won gold in both forms and sparring.
Other gold winners in sparring were Lauren Clark, Harmon Haley, Kayla Kasper and Bill Ferkile. Paul Procco earned a gold in forms.
Procco and Kasey McKenna placed second in sparring, as did Ashley Dochinez, Alexis Haley, Kasper, McKenna and Joey Vanderbleek in forms. Dochinez, Alexis Haley, Christopher Girvin and Rhy Gillett were third in sparring, as were Clark and Gillett in forms.
GIRLS GYMNASTICS: At last month's AAU State Championships in Lake Buena Vista, the Apollo School of Gymnastics was led in Level 4 by Monique Oliver and Carrie Anderson with first-place all-around honors.
Alex Rosenbaum was second and Lucia Russa third to help the Apollo team place 11th overall.
Event winners from Apollo included Oliver (vault, beam and floor exercise), Rosenbaum (vault), Anderson (bars and beam), Gracie Kobitter (floor) and Kathryn Stacy (bars).
ICE SKATING: TBSA Parkside finished ahead of its competition in the JP Igloo Team Competition in Ellenton. TBSA Countryside was third, TBSA Oldsmar fifth and SunBlades eighth.
Earning at least four first-place awards for TBSA Parkside were Haley Barrett, Brendan Fagan and Erin Pryde. Earning three firsts were Kathryn Judson, Sarah Lamore, Suzanne Proplesch, Ashley Watkins and Mariah Salas.
Capturing at least one first were Liesa Abel, Lauren Bone, Alyssa Cho, Rachel Curry, Blanchard Fagan, Bryce Fagan, Natalee Judson, Marquee Starz, Amber Perry, Chelsea Perry, Kaitlyn Pryde, Shining Starz, Lauren Steen and Nancy Tran.
Also placing in the top five were Damilola Oshodi and Mianna Mantooth.
