TAMAQUA — As defending champions, Pottsville’s Gabrielle Hammer and Blue Mountain’s Lyle Luckenbill knew the importance of getting off to a good start.
They worked with their coaches to place dives they are comfortable completing with high degrees of difficulty early in their routines to not only build an early lead, but their confidence as well.
Friday at the Schuylkill League Diving Championships at Tamaqua Area High School, the two seniors executed those plans to perfection.
Boosted by dives of more than 32 points in her first four attempts, Hammer cruised to her third straight Schuylkill League girls’ title, blowing away a four-girl field with 358 points.
Luckenbill was equally impressive, capturing his second straight Schuylkill League boys’ crown and setting a Blue Mountain school record with 349.40 points.
For Hammer, it was the highest score in an 11-dive competition in her career and extended Pottsville’s streak of girls’ diving champions to five years.
“It feels awesome. I’m really excited with myself,” Hammer said.
Hammer was in control from start to finish, building a 34.55-point lead over teammate and silver medalist Rachael Setlock after five dives.
Her best dive was her third one, a forward dive with two somersaults from the tuck position. Her score of 39.60 was the highest score by any diver — male or female — in the competition.
“What my coach (Bob Price) does is he puts my stronger dives first,” Hammer said. “Toward the third
round are my weaker dives, the ones I’m a little shaky on, but I thought I handled those well today.”
Hammer was equally happy that Setlock finished second. A pair of 30-point dives in the middle of the competition was good enough to help the Tide senior finish with 293.85 points. Blue Mountain’s Emma Barrett was third at 281.15 points, while Tamaqua’s Emma Rago was fourth with 271 points.
“I’m really happy that my teammate Rachel came out. I knew she could do it,” Hammer said. “She was a little shaky, but I knew she could do it. I’m really happy the two of us were able to finish first and second.”
Luckenbill’s road to Schuylkill League stardom is an amazing one. He finished third out of three divers as a freshman and was disqualified for failing two dives as a sophomore before winning the league title as a junior by one-half point.
He saved his best for last, leading from the second dive on in the four-diver boys’ competition.
Luckenbill’s routine featured six dives with a degree of difficulty of 2.0 or higher, with all six of those dives coming within the first nine dives of the competition.
“I definitely wanted a higher degree of difficulty, so I aimed for that,” said Luckenbill, who credited Blue Mountain diving coach Paige (Schoffstall) Lurwick, the 2008 Schuylkill League girls’ champion, for setting up his routine.
“It felt good completing harder dives. It always gives you an advantage to have a higher degree of difficulty.”
Luckenbill’s best dive was his second one, a backward dive with two somersaults from the tuck position with a degree of difficulty of 2.2 that compiled 38.50 points.
The first diver in the order, Luckenbill followed with dives of 31.20, 35.20, 27.20, 35 and 34.10 points to build a comfortable lead and put pressure on the rest of the field.
“Usually I actually struggle with that dive,” Luckenbill said of his second dive. “I just hit it perfect and got lucky.”
Pottsville’s Kyle Brennan was second with 325 points, followed by Blue Mountain’s Josh Sham with 269 points and Pottsville’s Ed Hossler with 237.20 points.
The boys’ field was reduced to four after late scratches by Tamaqua’s Thorn Devlin and Pottsville’s Chase Alisauckas, who both figured to contend for medals. Devlin, who was in attendance, suffered a gruesome-looking leg injury Wednesday in practice and couldn’t compete.
Regardless, the day belonged to Luckenbill, who scored more than 30 points on eight of his 11 dives.
“I just really focused in practice and started bearing down, knowing I’d have to do better,” Luckenbill said.
Schuylkill League
Diving
11-dive championships
Friday, at Tamaqua
GIRLS
1. Gabrielle Hammer, Pottsville, 358.00
2. Rachael Setlock, Pottsville, 293.85
3. Emma Barrett, Blue Mountain, 281.15
4. Emma Rago, Tamaqua, 271.00
BOYS
1. Lyle Luckenbill, Blue Mountain, 349.40
2. Kyle Brennan, Pottsville, 325.00
3. Josh Sham, Blue Mountain, 269.00
4. Ed Hossler, Pottsville, 237.20