It had to be a trip of a lifetime for Eva Reyes when she competed in last summer’s FINA World Junior Diving Championships in the Ukraine while representing Team Mexico.
Reyes placed 16th in the one-meter competition and 20th on the three-meter board.
“It went very well,” explained Reyes, now a sophomore at San Ysidro High School. “I got a lot of experience. I met a lot of new people. It was fun.”
Reyes’s first stab at high school diving was interrupted while training for the world championship meet.
Now that it’s over and she’s no longer involved with her club team commitments in Mexico, Reyes has had a chance to fully immerse herself in diving on this side of the border.
It’s something that she, well, dove right into.
Dan Kovar, her dive coach, feels that Reyes has made enough progress this season to make a strong challenge to win the Division I girls title at the San Diego Section championship meet May 3 at San Diego Mesa College.
“At the start of the season we talked about the higher dives she would need to win CIF,” Kovar explained. “She went out and learned three of the six dives that first night. Her work ethic is outstanding.
“We’ve had a couple meets this year where she’s taken second place to the defending CIF champion. We feel we can make some adjustments to have the upper hand and be on par with the competition. We have an 11-dive meet coming up on Saturday in Fallbrook where we hope to see what dives she can perform well and use them on her dive card for CIF.”
In the meantime, Reyes is basking in the afterglow of winning her second consecutive South Bay League individual title by recording a meet-high 282.10 points during Wednesday’s six-dive league finals at Southwestern College.
She said the significance of winning the league championship as a freshman with 268.05 points did not totally sink in. That’s different now.
“Now it’s important,” she said. “I’m proud that I did it. I’ll try my best to win it again next year.”
Kovar said the introduction of new dives with higher degrees of difficulty and the willingness to learn on Reyes’s part has made her a championship contender.
“The girls from North County know about her now,” Kovar said.
Reyes’s high mark this year is 296 points for six dives in a league dual meet against Southwest.
“That was a good meet,” she said, smiling.
A total of 23 divers competed at Wednesday’s finals — six from the South Bay League and 17 from the Mesa League. The sport continues to maintain a presence within the Sweetwater Union High School District despite the absence of local dive clubs.
“New things are good,” Reyes said in regard to competing for her school. “In Mexico we were all focusing on what we could win for the coaches. Competing in high school is more fun.”
Reyes has set a goal of scoring 300 points in a six-dive meet. The top four point-scorers at the section finals, regardless of division, qualify to compete in the state championship meet May 10-11 in Clovis.
“I want to win CIF and get a good place at state … and get the eyes of college coaches,” she said.
Top marks
Southwest’s Katie George finished runner-up to Reyes on the South Bay League girls dive card with 114.10 points.
Southwest’s Jose Torres won the South Bay League boys dive championship with 156.0 points, followed by Southwest’s Alexis Colmenares in second place with 147.35 points and Castle Park’s Isidro Navarette in third place with 119.65 points.
Reyes and Torres earned recognition as the South Bay League Divers of the Year.
Olympian High School seniors Alehtse Cinco (girls) and Erik Duarte (boys) earned honors as the Mesa League Divers of the Year.
Cinco won the girls title with 160.45 points while Duarte won the boys title with 175.20 points.
Duarte finished runner-up at last year’s league finals with 162.2 points while Cinco finished third with 179.7 points.
Duarte was challenged this year after needing to take time off from practice to tend to a family emergency.
He missed two and a half weeks in total of valuable practice time, resuming just last week.
“I think I’ve done well (despite the missing practice time,” he said following Wednesday’s meet. “Most of it is muscle memory. I remembered how it felt to be on the board. I picked it up pretty quickly.”
His goals this season were to win the league title with a higher point total than last year. Mission accomplished on both counts.
“My highest score is 187 points this year but I feel like I did really well (at the league finals),” Duarte said. “I felt it was one of my better meets even though I was out for two weeks.”
The top eight divers in each division received medals. Hilltop divers collected five medals on the boys and girls side conbined.
Hilltop sophomore Dominic Metzig finished second in the boys Mesa League competition with 148.60 points while senior teammate Sam Bermudez finished third with 147.00 points.
“I thought all our boys and girls did fantastic,” Hilltop coach Ernie Medina said. “I did not expect so many medals. They’re all first-year divers who all started out late this year.
“We’re happy we can continue the dive tradition we’ve established at Hilltop.”
Mesa League
Girls Results/points
- Alehtse Cinco (Olympian) 160.45
- Montse Sanchez (Olympian) 133.10
- Jessie Roland (Eastlake) 129.50
- Bella Metzig (Hilltop) 123.75
- Elizabeth Perez (Mar Vista) 121.00
- Mireya Ramirez (Hilltop) 118.00
- Victoria Ryan (Hilltop) 116.55
- Aryel Austin (Bonita Vista) 115.00
- Daneyra Ramirez (Hilltop) 103.20
- Sharon Basa Cabral (Olympian) 95.55
- Addison Rushing (Olympian) 77.55
Mesa League
Boys Results/Points
- Erik Duarte (Olympian) 175.20
- Dominic Metzig (Hilltop) 148.60
- Sam Bermudez (Hilltop) 147.00
- Carl Grosselfinger (Eastlake) 143.75
- Diego Munguia (Olympian) 140.05
- Jake Osthimer (Mar Vista) 129.50
- Zachary O’Hara (Otay Ranch) 127.05
South Bay League
Girls Results/Points
- Eva Reyes (San Ysidro) 282.10
- Katie George (Southwest) 114.10
South Bay League
Boys Results/Points
- Jose Torres (Southwest) 156.00
- Alexis Colmenares (Southwest) 147.35
- Isidro Navarette (Castle Park) 119.65
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
