NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
MISSION — A year ago, Mission Veterans diver Victoria Bonilla finished second in the 1-meter dive at the District 31-5A meet with 199.10 points. She didn’t dive her best but improved to a 244.60 at the regional meet, advancing to the state competition as a freshman.
Former district champion Sandra Valdez graduated from Sharyland High after last season and now dives at the University of the Incarnate Word, making room for the young group at Mission Veterans to shine. Bonilla led the way, earning gold with a score of 275.10 on Thursday during the District 31-5A diving meet at the Bannworth Aquatic Center.
“I’m very passionate about diving, so I’m thankful for my coach, and I’m thankful for my teammates. They’re incoming freshmen,” Bonilla said. “We’ve just been practicing a lot, and we have been working hard, and I’m really dedicated.”
She completed a 1 1/2 forward somersault on dive 11 to hold off Sharyland Pioneer’s Viany Carver, who scored 229.05. In third and fourth were Patriots freshmen Jayden Longoria and Ryann Ramirez, with both eclipsing Bonilla’s ninth-grade score.
Bonilla said she is glad she can provide leadership and support to her teammates as only a 10th-grader.
“I just want them to be the best that they can,” Bonilla said. “They both have a lot of potential, and I know they can both possibly make it to state. I know my coach is very supportive of me and so are my teammates.”
Mission Veterans coach Melissa Reyna was fighting the flu but was still poolside judging and supporting her trio of divers behind a surgical mask.
“They were pretty nervous, so I just feel they did a really good job, even though they were nervous,” Reyna said. “Our first goal was to go regionals. We did that. Our next goal was to come in 1, 2, 3, and we almost did that. Our next goal is to hopefully get them all to state.”
On the boys side, Marc Rodriguez led the Pioneer charge with a gold medal as part of a podium sweep. Rodriguez scored a 308.0, Luis Ponce scored a 287.0, and Julian Perez finished with 219.75 points for the Diamondbacks.
Roma’s Juan Gonzalez placed fourth with a 195.05.
Rodriguez was last year’s district champion as a sophomore. This season, he blew past his score from last year with a 308.00 — a 51.65-point improvement.
His strong day came even after he said he got off to a slow start.
“Toward the beginning of the meet, I was getting 3 1/2s, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t think I can do it.’ I was sitting down by myself just thinking,” Rodriguez said. “Once I started scoring sixes and fives, that’s when my energy started to go up, and I had more confidence in myself.”
The confidence Rodriguez built came from some of the more technical and difficult dives, which weigh more in the scoring. He said back 1 1/2 somersault is his favorite dive to complete.
Aesthetics aside, Rodriguez posted a strong day of difficult dives, and the early hiccups were no concern for Sharyland diving coach Tina Jensen.
“I think it might just be a little bit of the anxiousness for the meet,” Jensen said. “I know he’s looking forward to the regionals. That’s where’s he’s going to have to make sure he has a perfect meet. He does stand a great chance of advancing to the state level.”
“Marc puts in a lot of extra time beyond,” Jensen said. “He’s always staying extra, working harder to get better, and this year he’s had a significant gain.”