BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — Abraham Rodriguez earned a gold-medal finish in nail-biting fashion Friday at the District 30-6A Diving meet at McAllen Rowe High School. The Rowe senior scored a meet-high 308.4 points, edging La Joya’s Alfonso Ramirez by a .35-point margin.
“I thought he was going to beat me, because I messed up some of my dives,” Rodriguez said. “There was a time when we were really close.”
Rodriguez took an early lead in the second round after scoring a 25.6 on a back dive. He would later slip to third place, however, due to a 21-point performance in the fifth round on another back dive which featured three half summersaults and a half twist. It would be Rodriguez’s lowest-scored dive of the afternoon.
“There were some new dives I had to do today, I was kind of nervous.” Rodriguez said. “One was my forward double. I did it last year, but I stopped doing it.”
The senior recovered, however, and entered the tenth round in second place, trailing Ramirez by a score of 254.15 to 246.45. It was then that Rodriguez leapfrogged his La Joya counterpart on a forward somersault tuck, in which he scored a 33.60 – his best dive on the day.
As for Ramirez, despite leading for the majority of the competition, the senior’s final three dives were among his lowest-scored attempts, including a pair of 25.3 performances on a back tuck and a forward tuck. When the scores were announced, Ramirez looked visibly flustered with his silver-medal finish.
“I went up to him and I told him, ‘Good job, boy.’” Rodriguez said.
Though Rodriguez is an upperclassman, this season is just his second competing on the board. The victory propels him to his first regional meet, which will be held next week at the Brownsville Natatorium.
FRESHMAN FIRST
McAllen Memorial freshman Patty Rocha won first place in the girls competition at Rowe with a score of 261.8. Her teammate Katherine De Leon, a sophomore, won the bronze medal with 235 points. Tammy Smith of McAllen High took second with a score of 254.8
JERRY’S WORLD
Jerry Silva of Edinburg North won first place during the District 31-6A diving competition at the Weslaco Natatorium on Friday with a score of 271.5. PSJA North’s Carolina Carrillo won first in the girl’s meet with 244.5.