Hilltop High School senior diver Kennedy Miranda placed second as a freshman in the Mesa League championship meet but took a year off from diving as a sophomore.
She was back on the board as a junior and won last year’s league title. Her senior year has simply been record-setting.
Miranda scored 210.45 points in competition Tuesday at the Parkway pool to easily eclipse the San Diego Section automatic qualifying mark of 185 points. Her next stop will be Thursday’s Metro Conference championship meet at the Parkway pool and then the section dive finals May 23 at Mesa College.
“I’m trying to break into the top 10 this year and maybe the top five if I can,” said Miranda, who scored a 12th-place finish at last year’s CIF championships.
Miranda, who set a personal best score of 215 points earlier this season, comes prepared for the sport. She competed in youth gymnastics at the South Bay Family YMCA from ages 2 to 11. Diving has become an extension of that.
“I saw it on TV and I thought it would be cool,” she explained of her introduction to diving.
Winning last year’s league championship was a definite confidence boost and provided a well-deserved emotional rush.
“It felt pretty awesome,” the petite Lancer diver said. “It was a really hard struggle getting there, but it was worth it in the end. It took a lot of hard work.”
Hilltop dive coach Kyle Kovar said Miranda is working on expanding her dive card.
“I wish she had more dives down but she’s getting there,” the former CIF champion noted. “If she can put some more dives together, she could do well at CIF.”
Miranda credits her flexibility as one of her key strengths. “I’m able to do a lot of my dives from the pike position, which ups my degree of difficulty,” she said. “I’m getting better with my back one-and-one-half somersault with a half-twist. I’m beginning to do front-doubles.”
Keeping focus and maintaining composure while on the board are other key elements of performing a successful dive, she said.
“You need to calm yourself down when you’re on the board,” she explained. “You can’t be nervous.”
