Nick Lydon shatters state dive mark
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » Shenendehowa senior diver made a mark Saturday, Dec. 16 at the Shenendehowa Aquatics Center by shattering the New York State Public High School Athletic Association 11-dive meet record.
The Florida University-bound diver broke Albany Academy’s Manny Pollard’s 2012 mark of 635.75 points with his own eyepopping total of 661.75 points. He also shattered the Shenendehowa pool record of 607.15 points.
“I don’t know if it’s set in completely, but it’s awesome to think that I’ve put in all this work and then it’s finally paying off and seeing it beat a state record is awesome,” Nick Lydon said. “Last year at Sectionals I went 609, so that was 20 points off (the record). Over the summer I trained really hard and did USA (Swimming) events.”
Even as Lydon was hitting the water precisely throughout the morning’s dives, he was unaware of his scores and tracking down the record.
“It’s not as much about the numbers I hit, when I’m diving in dual meets I try to stay underwater and not listen to the scores,” Lydon said. “For me it’s more about hitting the points that my Coach gives me Coach (Dennis) Hogan, just different
keys to the dive that he will give me to think about during the dive.”
Lydon challenged himself with his dive line-up listing, including four dives with a degree of difficulty of 3.0 or higher.
“I put in a new dive for the first time today, a reverse one and a-half with two and a-half twist and it went it, the best one I’ve ever done and it really helped me get to the point that I needed to be,” Lydon said. “That was in the middle.
“I put the dives that I feel really solid at the end; put everything else in there periodically to make sure that I’m keeping pace. You put together a (dive) list with really solid dives at the end that you can nail, stuff in the front you can nail.”
After his 11th and final dive of the morning, Lydon shattered the previous state mark.
“It didn’t cross my mind until I saw my coach afterwards who told me,” Lydon said. “For me it was just really about thinking about the dive.
My last dive is one of my harder dives and I was really focused on my hurdle (approach) for that dive. Once I got out of the water, hearing that I broke the state record was just icing on the cake.”
Lydon and the Plainsmen divers again made their mark, earning 37 points for their squad before the first whistle in the afternoon and once again leading by example.
“The thing I would say about Nick more than anything else is he’s as passionate about what he does as any athlete that I’ve ever seen,” Shenendehowa boys swim Coach Chuck Dunham said. “He literally loves to dive.
‘His passion for it is evident by the amount of work he puts in at practice. If were up to him he would have an eight- to nine-hour practice a day. He truly loves the sport of diving, he loves diving, he loves every piece about it and it really starts with loving practice and that work ethic and having that passion is contagious and what we look for from him is that is such a great example to point to for everybody else.”
Even with the New York State mark set in stone, potentially for years, Lydon thinks there is still more to accomplish in the second half of his winter season.
“For sectionals and states I just want to do the best dives that I can and really try to put the best out there,” Lydon said. “I hope it goes up from there.”