The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Westlake’s Henry enjoys state meet
Westlake senior Kenny Henry had a goal in mind this year: Make it to Canton.
After a narrow miss last season, finishing sixth in the Northwest District with the top five advancing to state, Henry knew he was going to have to work harder than ever to achieve his goal. Mission accomplished. Henry placed 18th with a score of 270.45 at the Division I boys state diving competition on Feb. 24 at the C.T. Branin Natatorium.
“I’m glad that I was able to come here,” Henry said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I love competing against kids that have so much talent. It was definitely humbling to be here and a bit of an accomplishment after barely missing it last year. That made me work harder since it was my goal to make it here.
“I put the work in, so it was nice to see it pay off. I’m happy to make it down here this year, and I’m happy to come here with some of my club teammates.”
While he may have accomplished his season-long goal of ending his career in Canton, Henry said he reconfigured his goals after qualifying for the state diving competition, making it his goal to advance to the finals.
He fell two shots shy of that goal, which he said was disappointing, but does not take away from the experience.
“My goal was to make the finals,” Henry said. “I was a bit short this year, but I’m still happy with how I performed today. I wish I could have made it through, but I’m still just happy to be here, competing on the last day possible.”
It should be noted, though, that Henry in no way shorted himself at the state competition.
Rather, the competition ramped it up a notch this year as Henry’s final score would have put him into the finals last year by nearly 10 points.
Considering that the senior had only one dive score below 30 points — his second dive was a forward twoand-a-half somersault, tuck that scored 28.80 — and it’s safe to say that Henry put everything into his dives.
In particular, Henry mentioned that he thought his third dive, a back dive straight, was one of his best. The judges agreed, awarding him his highest net total of the competition at 20.5 (dive score of 34.85 with the 1.7 dive difficulty factored in), including a judge who gave him an eight — a score that rarely was seen not only during the D-I boys competition, but all week long.
“My back dive went a lot better than I thought it would,” Henry said. “But I missed on my two-and-ahalf, which was one of my bigger dives that I was hoping to do well in.”
The Westlake senior started off the morning with a bang, notching his highest score on his first dive, a 38.5 on his inward one-and-a-half somersault, tuck, that placed him in third after one round.
He would slide from there, hovering around 17th before slipping into 18th during the semifinals.
“It’s a frustrating sport, but you have to keep grinding,” Henry said. “If you keep going at it ... you’ll be happy with it. You’ll see the work you’re putting in and get the satisfaction of a job well done.”