The splashdown phase
How Freedom’s Sarah Gill and Parkland’s Ethan Radio plan to make impact at states
As a senior athlete at Freedom High School, Sarah Gill was used to the electricity, pomp and circumstance of the District 11 Diving Championships.
But the atmosphere at this year’s meet — due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — was very much muted.
Still, Gill is proud to call herself a champion.
She clinched the Class 3A girls crown one week after she claimed the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference diving championship. Gill easily prevailed at the district competition with an 11-dive total of 386.95 points, securing her trip to next week’s PIAA state championships.
“It feels really good to win,”
Gill said. “But it was very weird this year. Not seeing the podium with parents around taking all the photos. It was so quiet and empty inside. [No fans were permitted at the meet.] It’s not what I was used to. But it was still fun.”
Of the four champions crowned Saturday at Emmaus, three were first-year gold-winners, including Parkland’s Ethan
Radio, the 3A boys champion, and Central Catholic’s JT Heinz, the 2A boys champ who competed unopposed.
Moravian Academy’s Alexa Fegley, a junior, won her second straight 2A girls title.
Both winners in Class 3A waited patiently for their turns at the top.
Radio was one of the state’s top divers a season ago, finishing fourth at the state championships. But, he placed behind two-time state champion Brendan McCourt of Emmaus at every major event, including last year’s District 11 meet.
After compiling 452.90 points for a 120-plus point victory Saturday, Radio credited McCourt, who now dives at the University of Texas, for pushing him to reach this level.
“I really liked competing with Brendan,” he said. “This year I couldn’t push myself as much. He was such an outstanding diver and I miss diving against him and trying to stay with him at competitions.”
Radio admitted, however, it was satisfying to earn gold rather than settling for a silver.
Parkland teammate Ryan Beltramme placed second with 332.85 points and Northampton’s Brad Chatenka took third with
316.40.
“I don’t think it was necessarily my best day,” Radio, a junior, said, “but honestly, it’s very awesome to win. I worked so hard for three years and this is the payoff.”
Gill shared a very similar feeling. She placed fifth among Class 3A girls, all seniors, at last year’s district championships. This year has been Gill’s year to shine — and she has stepped up.
Her closest competition Saturday came from Easton teammates Rachel Marcus and Madison Cunard, who scored 351.55 and 340.50 points, respectively. Gill said she didn’t feel her best during the meet but ended up with a score similar to her EPC total the previous week.
“Some of my dives were a little bit off,” she said. “But my scores didn’t change too much. I’ve been pretty consistent all year.”
Next, Gill will be taking her initial trip to the state championships, set for Saturday, March 13 at Cumberland Valley High School.
“I just want to enjoy it,” Gill said.
Another of coach Emily Kocis’ divers — she coached five athletes from four schools at Saturday’s districts — struck gold for a second straight season.
Moravian Academy’s Fegley edged out her training partner, Anna Petke of Bethlehem Catholic, for first place among 2A girls. Fegley totaled 337.35 points to Petke’s 321.80.
“Some of my dives were really good and some others were not so good,” Fegley said. “It was my lowest 11-dive score of the season. I was definitely nervous but I had a good warmup.”
Kocis, who coached both Fegley and Petke, as well as Gill, said she tried to keep Fegley focused on her task at hand.
“I wanted to keep Alexa focused on her dives,” Kocis said, “rather than calculating scores in her head. It was very close for a while and that was the biggest thing.”
Central Catholic’s Heinz had the board, and the spotlight, to himself in Class 2A. He had no competition and won with 309.10 points.