Class 2A champ focused on title
North Catholic’s Kyle Maziarz will have a number in mind when he steps on the board Friday at South Park for the WPIAL Class 2A diving championship.
That number is 522.20. It’s the score Andrew Cestra of Beaver pulled at last year’s finals to relegate Maziarz to second place. And it’s a total that has driven the Trojans senior in his preparation for his last WPIAL meet.
“There’s a record that I was 10 points away from beating last year,” Maziarz said. “Andrew Cestra, we both beat the record that was held for many years and he won by 10 points, so I feel that’s my goal this year to leave my legacy in the WPIAL.”
Cestra finished with a 522.20 and beat Maziarz — who came into the 2019 meet as the defending champion — by 11.70 points after a 510.50 finish. Both rolled over the previous mark of 499.10 set by Ryan Fagan of Pine-Richland in 1998.
Maziarz rebounded with his second consecutive PIAA Class 2A title at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium, but losing in the WPIAL finals is still a thorn in his side. Coming into the week, Maziarz had the highest six-diver score in the WPIAL this year, a 297.80 that was 17.53 better than Elizabeth Forward senior Gavin Guern and 18.85 in front of Derry Area senior Cameron Washburn.
One of the biggest reasons Maziarz believes he can eclipse the record is the fact he has his college choice already made. Earlier this year he committed to Georgetown and, by not having to worry about impressing future coaches, it has allowed him to just focus on competing.
“I’m kind of in a whole different head-space than I have been the last few years because I always felt like one meet was going to determine how recruiters looked at me and my small time as a high school athlete was going to be looked at,” Maziarz said. “So much stress was built around that because junior year is the height of when you need to be performing your best if you want to go to college for a sport.”
Class 2A girls
Maziarz isn’t the only North Catholic diver looking to walk off the podium with a gold medal at South Park. Trojanettes freshman Maggie Foley has moved into contention throughout the season and is currently seeded third among qualifiers.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about, honestly, being able to do this at such a young age,” Foley said. “Anything can happen, so I just can’t wait to see how it plays out with everyone.”
Foley’s top reported score so far is a 248.25 that has her seeded third behind Central Valley junior Alexa Gonczi and Derry Area junior Alison Cowan. Gonczi, the top returning performer from last year, has a 255.22 as her best six-dive showing, while Cowan is less than a point behind at 254.53.
Cowan finished second behind Anna Vogt of Ringgold last year while Cowan came in fifth. Also in top contention heading into the finals will be South Fayette junior Taylor Weyrich, who is seeded fourth with a 245.70 after finishing fourth in the WPIAL a year ago.
Class 3A boys
Coming into the season, WPIAL Class 3A boys diving was pretty much split up into Fox Chapel junior David Manelis and everyone else.
Nothing has really changed heading into the finals Feb. 22 at North Allegheny.
Manelis, the PIAA runner-up last year, has the top six-dive score in the WPIAL this season with a 375.20 from a meet last week at Franklin Regional. Seneca Valley junior Matthew Laslavic has the secondbest total coming into the week with a 266.75.
Class 3A girls
Prior to the season, North Allegheny diving coach Patti McClure opined that the Tigers could have the top three finishers in the WPIAL this year.
So far, the numbers bear her out.
Freshman Zoe Ky has the top score in the WPIAL heading into the final week with a 290.80, while junior Maya Ennis is second at 285.00 and freshman Christina Shi is third at 282.10.
Though North Allegheny has the top three seeds, a sweep is far from a guarantee.
Latrobe senior Jordyn Miller has a solid seed score of 280.95 and her Wildcats teammate, junior Lauren Bisignani, has a 276.45 to her credit while Seneca Valley senior Mackenzie Clark has posted a 276.30.