More News

The typical swim meet has 24 events, just two of them devoted to the diving portion of the competition.

It was all about the divers July 28-29 at Old Farm and Calverton Swim clubs, as the Montgomery County Dive League all-stars went head-to-head.

Joining the neighborhood Montgomery County Swim League has become something of a rite of passage over the past half-century. Diving's answer, the MCDL, has grown exponentially over just the past decade.

It started in 1979 with about five teams. Twenty-five teams competed this year with more than 1,000 participants, an increase of more than 200 athletes since 2000.

Like the MCSL, the MCDL feeds into the Montgomery Dive Club's year-round, national-caliber program and has provided many opportunities for young athletes.

Take Thursday's men's 15-18 individual all-star champion, former Rockville High diver Eric Sachs. Sachs, representing Manor Woods, finished with a score of 216.51, ahead of second-place Bryan Doremus of Potomac Woods (208.68) and Parker Rigaux from North Chevy Chase (199.71)

Sachs got his start at Manor Woods and just got back freshman season at the University of Maryland, where he dives on scholarship.

Thursday was his first all-star win in the league's oldest age group. He won the 13-15 bracket four years ago.

"It was nice to win it my last year," Sachs said. "MCDL has been like a home to me. I started doing this before I got into national training. So it's nice to come back. I dove against some of my old teammates. It's always nice to see them and have some bragging rights."

Mohican's Emily Schmidt won the women's 15-18 competition with a 243.12 to 232.83 advantage over second-place Katie Collins.

Each diver in the 15-18 category performed three required dives and one optional dive. With bad weather and darkness looming, only the top six advanced to the final round, where they each performed an additional two optional dives.

East Gate's Kali Becker won the girls 13-14 competition and Simon Carne of Seven Locks won the boys 13-14. Athletes in that age division dove five times, with two required dives and three optional.

The 11-12 participants each dove four times and anyone 10 and under dove three times.

Lexi von Friedeburg (girls 11-12), Patrick Collishaw (boys 11-12), Katie Stender-Moore (girls 9-10), Sam Kressman (boys 9-10), Saige Gootman (girls 8-under) and Nick Barbot (boys 8-under) were champions of their respective age groups.

"I think diving is becoming more popular," Manor Woods team representative Jude Lozupone said. "Our team grows in numbers every year. Even each year after the first or second week, kids see other kids diving and want to join. It's fun and instructional and gets more kids involved in diving."