Seven better, 13 away

FORT WAYNE — The Patriots coaches wanted to see more consistency out of Maddy Snow.

The junior had two goals of her own as well — improve her score from last season and make the finals.

She achieved the first two goals, but they couldn’t push her to the third.

Snow, a Jay County High School junior, finished 14th by scoring 221.2 points at the IHSAA diving regional Tuesday hosted by South Side.

“Obviously, I wanted to do better than last year,” Snow said. “I hoped to make the finals and even though I didn’t, I’m not disappointed.”

The 20 competitors who make it to the regional get to dive five times in the prelims and three times in the semi-finals. Scores from the first eight attempts are tallied together and the top 12 divers move on to the finals, where three more dives determine the top eight that make it to the state meet.

Snow came in as the 13th seed after scoring 348.85 points in the sectional on Feb. 3. Emerson Stoner of Zionsville at the 12th seed only outscored Snow by 0.1 point in the sectional round.

Snow performed a reverse dive tuck (which has a 1.6 degree of difficulty multiplier) for her final dive of the semifinals. 

Her score of 24 left the JCHS junior sitting in 11th place with 13 divers left.

The next six to dive didn’t affect her odds because they either sat higher than 11th before the final attempt, or didn’t score enough points to bump Snow. (Stoner went after Snow but scored the same to fall 0.95 points short and Nya Mead of Bishop Dwenger was the fifth to follow and a 23.8-point dive left her 0.8 points behind.)

Grier Backus of Delta — she earned the ninth seed by beating Snow in the sectional by 19.55 points — bumped Snow back one spot, decreasing her odds even further.

When Elizabeth Murotani stepped on the board, Snow was in trouble. The Homestead senior boasted 217.2 points before the final attempt. Snow needed a fail to stay alive. Unfortunately for the JCHS diver, Murotani pulled off a 22.95-point back somersault, half twist, to knock her out.

“I knew that unless she failed it, there was no way I was going on,” Snow said. “I was alright with that because I knew that my score was better than my one from last year’s at that point. I knew that she wouldn’t fail it.”

Kennedy Gould of Harrison captured the last spot in the finals with 234.3 points.

Maddy Snow of Jay County High School plunges into the pool at South Side on Tuesday during her first attempt of the semifinal round at the regional diving meet. Snow’s inward pike recieved all 5.5s, 6s and 6.5s from the seven judges to score 27 points for the junior. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Last season, Snow finished 13th with 214.35 points. While she didn’t make the finals, her score improved 6.85 points for a total of 221.2.

Snow’s dives mirrored the ones she attempted last year, because she missed the opportunity to learn newer dives with higher degrees of difficulty (DD), as she sat out more than six weeks with a partially torn labrum.

“When you miss that much time, it’s rebuilding and establishing muscle memory and getting things back together,” JCHS head coach Matt Slavik said. “She was pretty solid, but if she hadn’t missed those, her dives would have been much cleaner and she wouldn’t have to blow any rust off to get here.

“I think that plays a little bit of a role, but at the end of the day, she came back strong and represented Jay County really well.”

Snow’s experience and consistency was key for staying in the hunt for the finals.

She mentioned that nerves affected her some last season, but this year she was more focused on having fun and didn’t feel them as much.

Snow never had a dive score below 24 points. Her first two — a back dive tuck and a back somersault tuck — scored 28 and 24.8 points, respectively.

Her final three dives of the prelims ended as the best of the day for the JCHS junior. She broke 30 points for the first time on forward one and one half somersault tuck. With a 1.7 degree of difficulty multiplier, Snow scored 30.6 points.

“She got her hips up and she threw straight and narrow,” diving coach Sawyer Weitzel. “It was great and she went up there knowing she could do it.”

She followed with her highest dive of the day, a forward double somersault (2.2 DD) that netted 30.8 points.

She finished the prelims with a 30.4-point dive on a forward somersault, one twist, to sit in 15th place. Her 144.6 points trailed Stoner in the 12th spot by 5.75 points.

In the semifinals, she opened with a 27-point inward dive tuck, followed by an inward somersault for 25.6 points.

“She had a good mindset the whole way through and that’s what I wanted this year,” Weitzel said. “She was consistent and that’s what I wanted from her this year, so I’m happy with the outcome. … I couldn’t have asked for a better attitude.”

Moving on from the South Side regional are last year’s state-runner up Amelia Rinehart (529.2) of Snider, Helena Gibson (403.35) of Carmel, Lynnette Hollingsworth (394.7) of Homestead, Eryn McMahon (368.4) of Noblesville, Campbell Lively-Mason (365.55) of Hamilton Heights, Melania Munson (365.5) of Carmel, Grace Witfield (359.3) Zionsville and Abby Sneed (354.85) of Oak Hill.

“I’m just proud of myself,” Snow said. “I’m really happy that Sawyer was here and I’m thankful for her and Slavik.

“I definitely need DD next year. That’s my big takeaway. I won’t be out for six weeks next year, so that’s another fun tip for next year.”