NORTH ALLEGHENY STAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
North Allegheny became the first school in history to capture the top three spots in the WPIAL Class 3A girls diving championships when Christina Shi, Maya Ennis and Zoe Ky went 1-2-3 in the 2020 finals.
And there’s every reason to believe the Tigers could do the same thing again this season.
“Christina is the most consistent diver, Maya is the strongest diver and Zoe is my up-and-comer,” North Allegheny diving coach Patti McClure said. “I think Zoe’s going to be a force this year and I think she’s going to be hanging with the big dogs.”
Shi and Ky and both sophomores this year while Ennis will be a senior and, though Shi became the first North Allegheny diver in 24 years to win the title, it was Ennis who had the better finish in the state finals as she came in third, Shi fifth and Ky 13th.
Ennis, a Yale recruit, is also the top returning diver from the PIAA finals at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
Seeing that trio in the top three spots at the WPIAL finals at North Allegheny wouldn’t be a surprise. Ky was third in the WPIAL last year with 457.85 points and the closest returning diver will be Latrobe senior Lauren Bisignani, who came in ninth and was 88.95 points behind.
Diving will be much different this year, though, as the Pitt diving instructional program has been shut down because of COVID-19. Nearly all of the top performers in the area have, at one time or another, gone through the program and will not have that instruction to fall back on in their preparation for this season.
“We’ve been working with our divers because Pitt is shut down and they’ve had no place to dive all summer,” McClure said. “They went one day a week to WVU until they shut them down and now they have no place to dive, so we started our intramural program at North Allegheny in August just to get them on the diving board.”
North Allegheny may have the top three girls but on the boys side, it has been Fox Chapel that has been dominant the past few years. The Foxes have had the champion each of the past four meets with Jonah Cagley winning in 2017-19 and David Manelis taking over the top spot last season.
Last year, Manelis had no peer in the WPIAL as his 524.90 was 100.45 better than second-place Trevor Elliott of Seneca Valley and 106.60 ahead of third-place Will Schenk of North Allegheny. The Foxes senior was also third in the state and was the only WPIAL medalist in the event, which was the last in the PIAA before the coronavirus shutdown.
Though Manelis is far and away the favorite to repeat this year, there could be a battle between Elliott, a senior for the Raiders, and Schenk, the Tigers sophomore.
“David is really a fantastic diver and his strength is his power and, when he’s on, he’s a force to be reckoned with,” McClure said. “I think Will’s dives, we have increased his degree of difficulty significantly and is doing really well with those. While I think beating David Manelis is a dream of ours, Will, he’s still a sophomore, but if his head is in the right spot … he can easily take over the Seneca Valley kid.”
Class 2A
Had the PIAA not canceled the Class 2A meet last year, there was a distinct possibility North Catholic could have made history as WPIAL champions Kyle Maziarz and Maggie Foley were both the No. 1 seeds heading into the meet and no school in either classification had ever swept the boys and girls titles.
It won’t happen this year, either, as Maziarz has graduated, which leaves Foley, a sophomore for the Trojanettes, as the only one left to defend a title in the classification.
Of course, Foley is having the same problem as many divers in the area, which is finding a practice board.
“I’ve had a number of emails from her coach asking if there was any way she could train with us,” McClure said. “Most of the schools in her section don’t have a diving board, so she’s worried about where to go. Our first home meet is against North Catholic and she’ll be able to dive with us then to qualify.”
Foley will be the heavy favorite to repeat as the closest returning diver from last year, Central Valley senior Alexa Gonczi, finished third and was 48.25 points behind.
On the boys side, it’s a wideopen field with Maziarz gone as Quaker Valley senior and 2020 runner- up Simon Iwanonkiw edged South Park senior Cole O’Connor by 13.60 points and Ringgold senior Jonnie McDuffie by 19.65.
There will also be another major change this year in the classification as the finals have been moved from South Park to North Allegheny.