BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — A familiar name and a first-time winner leaped from the diving board and onto the top of the podium Thursday at the District 32-5A diving meet at the Bannworth Park Aquatic Center.
Sharyland High’s Sandra Valdez won her third district title in as many years with a score of 370.40, while Roma’s Robert Meza, a first-year diver, took home gold in a tightly-contested boys competition with 285 points.
For Valdez, a junior, her victory occurred just one day removed from back pains which caused her to seek medical attention from a chiropractor. Though the junior admits she was concerned the pain would resurface during competition, she experienced an ache-free afternoon.
Without any cramps to dampen her resolve, Valdez delivered the most consistent performance of any competitor. Of her 11 dives, she scored between 17 and 19 points on eight occasions. Valdez’ best dive came during the fourth round on an inward one and a half somersault tuck, where she received a 19.50.
“Once I got about halfway through my dives, I knew I was going to feel fine” Valdez said. “I was more worried about my scores than my back, I was just focusing and trying to do the best I could.”
For each attempt, divers are scored by five judges on a point scale of zero to 10. The highest and lowest scores are dropped while the remaining three are totaled and multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty. All attempts are combined for the diver’s final score.
Valdez and three other girls competitors advance to the Class 5A Region VIII meet on February 5 in Corpus Christi. The top six finishers on the boys side will do the same.
For Meza, Thursday was the culmination for a season of firsts. The Roma senior spent his rookie year on the board learning and measuring himself against talent beyond the Valley. But it was his gifted athleticism that lent itself to his quick success.
“We had to really work his hurdle at first because it was difficult getting him to jump so high,” Roma diving coach Ray Castillo said. “That’s the most important part of diving. The harder thing is that he has so much natural ability that sometimes it’s hard to control his ability and his strength.”
Meza, along with the rest of his Roma team mates, spent the bulk of the season attending meets in Laredo and Corpus Christi in an effort to measure his talents against competition at the regional level.
Meza reached his highest score of 18.50 on two occasions — during the second round on a forward one and a half somersault tuck and again in the eighth round on an inward dive. But where Meza peaked, he was also inconsistent. Three of his four lowest scoring attempts came on his last three dives.
“I wasn’t even looking at the scores,” he said. “Not at first, at least. When I came up out of the water, I gave myself a couple seconds before I looked over at the judges to see what they said. I was just trying to stay focused and let my dives take care of themselves.”
Though Meza collected a gold medal, he edged runner up Alfonso Vargas of Sharyland Pioneer by a margin of nine and a half points — a difference of less than a point per dive. Vargas finished in third a season ago at the district meet.
“I thought I had a pretty good day,” Vargas said. “I was a little nervous at first but I thought I got better as the meet went on. … There were a lot of new faces here, and I didn’t know what they could do. It kind of threw me off.”
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District 32-5A Diving Meet Results
Jan. 21
Bannworth Park Aquatic Center, Mission
Boys Results
1, Robert Meza, Roma, 285.00; 2, Alexander Cervantes, Sharyland Pioneer, 275.05; 3, Alfonso Vargas, Sharyland High, 211.20; 4, Luis Ponce, Sharyland Pioneer, 193.35; 5, Macr Rodriguez, Sharyland Pioneer, 186.85; 6, Roel Garcia, Roma, 160.70; 7, Emilano Gudino, Roma, 159.00; 8, Rosario Guillen, PSJA Southwest, 122.40.
Girls Results
1, Sandra Valdez, Sharyland High, 370.40; 2, Noelia Arriaga, Roma, 224.30; 3, Vania Benitez, Sharyland Pioneer, 167.30; 4, Viany Carver, Sharyland Pioneer, 146.60.