This year’s Junior National Diving Competition was held in Victoria B.C. this July.
The K|W Diving Club had 4 athletes competing in different age divisions, and we held our own with fierce competition:
Andrew Dolson Mens “A” age category
C.J. Moore and Brett Gillis Mens “B”
Nate Grobe Mens “D”
In the Men’s A, Andrew Dolson, attended his first Junior Nationals, and had to compete against 30 of the country’s top divers. Andrew had been out of diving for more than a season, due to an injury, but he fought hard this year, to qualify and come to Nationals. He dove well at the competition and came in 23rd on the 3 metre and 27th on the 1 metre.
In the Men’s D – our under 11 category – we had a newcomer to the scene, Nate Grobe. Nate has been with our club for about a year and a half. His rise to National Level was quick, and in his first year as a Level 1 diver, he earned his scores to attend Nationals. Nate dove very well for his first ever National, and garnered a top twelve placing on his 1 metre, coming in 10th and finished 14th on the 3 metre. He will be a force to be reckoned with next year at this event.
In the Men’s B category, C.J. Moore and Brett Gillis had the hardest battle of them all. The competition in this age group was incredible, with the divers having to fight their way to the top on every board. On the 1 metre C.J. earned silver, while Brett came in 16th. On the 3 metre C.J. took the silver again with Brett in 4th. But in the tower event, the last event of the whole competition was where the boys had to dive like they never dove before. After semi-finals, Brett was in 5th and C.J. was in 3rd. During finals, it was a battle for the medals, with divers getting scores of 8’s. 9’s and 10’s. Just before the last dive, C.J. was in second, 8 points behind the leader. His final dive was his twister, and he dove it to scores of 9’s, but missed the first placing by just 2.55 points, taking the silver once again. Brett, after an amazing fight, with incredible scores on every dive, took fourth in the contest.
28 diving teams sent divers to Junior Nationals. With just 4 divers attending the meet, our club points placed us eighth in the team standings. What an incredible feat for the “little club” in K|W!
C.J.’s 3 silvers, qualified him for the Junior National Team, and he will be attending this year’s Junior Pan Am Games, to be held in Calgary Alberta this coming September.
As Top Twelve Contenders, C.J., Brett and Nate have all qualified for the Camo International Invitational, to be held in Montreal this December.
