BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland High’s Sandra Valdez burst off the diving board and into the history books Thursday at Bannworth Park Natatorium with a record-setting performance in the 5A diving championships. The sophomore took first place in the girls competition with a score of 419.35, a new district record among Valley schools.
“I was nervous at first,” Valdez said. “I always get nervous when we start the meet, but I got more confident when I saw I was doing good.”
Valdez’s afternoon on the board was marked by consistent execution. Of the 11 dives she attempted, she scored better than 18 points on all but one occasion — a backwards somersault where she received a 14. Her highest score of 22.5 occurred on an inward somersault tuck.
“When I saw the scores, I was super happy,” Valdez said.
Valdez shattered the previous record of 252.45 set in 2014 by Emily Alvarado of Mission High.
“I’ve been trying to build up her mentality of knowing she has these skills and that she can do it,” Sharyland diving coach Leslie Richardson said. “I told her, ‘You have to be confident on that diving board and know that you can do it like you’re the best.’”
Valdez takes to the board again on Feb. 6 in Corpus Christi for regional competition. There, she will look to advance to the state diving championships for a second straight year.
“I saw how good the swimmers were at regional and state last year,” Valdez said. “Seeing them last year made me want to get better this year.”
‘A LITTLE MEANS A LOT’
In the boys’ competition, Roma’s Orel Chapa took home first place for the Gladiators with a score of 359.10, a few points shy of breaking his personal record. The senior led from start to finish and scored a 21.00 on an inward somersault tuck, a meet-high for all male divers.
“It felt good out there,” Chapa said. “I was just praying I wouldn’t mess up.”
Chapa will compete at regionals as a diver for a third time. The senior was the only Gladiator from the boys team to advance.
“We encouraged him to stay focused,” Roma coach Calvin Snyder said. “He stayed with it the first two or three dives. He fought through it. He had to dive very well because (runner up Aaron Kolodzej of Sharyland) dove very well.”
Chapa’s score bested Kolodzej’s by 18 points.
“I’m going to work hard,” Chapa said of his preparation for regionals. “I need to work on my forward double and my twist. I just need to practice how to spin faster.”
Chapa’s coach claims there’s more to diving than refining technique.
“Diving is so much more mental (than swimming),” Snyder said. “You have to keep that focus for the whole 11 dives. It allows you to do very well. You don’t have to do much wrong to have a dive not look good. That little bit means a lot on the board.”
ROOKIES TO REGIONALS
PSJA High saw a pair of recent diving converts round out the top five. Juniors Noah Robles and Isaac Rodriguez placed fourth and fifth respectively, with Robles missing third place by a five-point margin.
For Robles, who scored a 244.35, Thursday’s meet doubled as his debut on the diving board in competition. Only two weeks ago, however, he suffered an injury he feared would keep him off the board.
“I got stepped on by a heifer,” Robles said. “It (weighed) about a thousand pounds.”
The incident happened at the agricultural farm at PSJA High.
“She was trying to run away from me and, when I turned her, I had slipped underneath her. She stepped on my spine and my upper ribs on my left side,” Robles said. “The doctor couldn’t believe I was still alive.”
Thanks in part to scoring a 19.00 on a reverse tuck, Robles has gone from banged up to jubilant at the thought of participating in his first regional meet.
“I can’t believe it,” Robles said. “I thought my season was over.”
Robles’ teammate, Rodriguez, took up diving in November. An offensive lineman for the Bears football team, the junior dropped 30 pounds to get in swimming shape. Rodriguez’s high score came on a reverse tuck in which the judges awarded him 16.5 points.
His lone blemish came on a back dive. Rather than gracefully plunging head first into the water, Rodriguez’s back slapped the surface and gave the pool-side judges a small shower.
“I flopped a lot. It hurt,” Rodriguez said of the learning curve on the board. “But it was just the mindset of moving on to the next one.”