Swim coach sends pair to state meet
Rob Mitchell
Issue date: 5/16/05 Section: Sports
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At Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill on April 23, divers Shelley Jones and Carey Stratacos earned a trip to the California Community College State Diving Championships by placing in the top six in the Bay Valley Conference Diving Championships. Jones placed 5th out of 10 women in the three-meter diving event, posting her best-ever score of 223.8 points. Stratacos finished 6th out of 10 men at three meters, also scoring his best total of 213.85 points.
Points are awarded based on a score given by each judge for dive execution multiplied by a number corresponding to the difficulty of the dive. A dive with more turns or twists earns a higher degree of difficulty. In the one-meter dive, Arnie Rodriguez came close to qualifying, but wound up eighth out of 14 divers with 229.95 points. "I was charging too hard, like I always do," said Rodriguez, who tried more difficult dives than he was used to at the meet.
"Normally I'm stronger in the one-meter," said Jones. The three-meter dive was first, and she was able to take more risks in that event because there is more time to complete the dive. She did not hear that she had qualified for state until she was warming up for the one meter dive. "It was awesome. I was so totally excited," she said. "Carey too, but we were both a little sad that Arnie barely missed it. We are such a team."
"I'm just really pleased," said Lager about the divers, all of whom took up the sport during a swim class in the fall of 2004. "To go from nothing last fall to the state championships, it's really something."
"I was so suprised," said Stratacos. "It's unexpected." He and Jones also traveled to San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton to compete in the Bay Valley Conference Swimming championships April 28, 29 and 30. The points for placing at the swimming and diving championships are added together, so the divers gave the team a leg up going into the swimming part of the championships.
Lager was happy with his team's preparation going into the swim meet. With only four men and four women swimming, the Mariners came up with a strategy for scoring the maximum amount of points possible. Because placing in a relay race scores double the points of the same placing in an individual event, College of Marin entered a team in all five relay races. This left little room for individual achievement because the rules prevent athletes competing in five relay races from entering more than one individual event. The strategy also left little room for error.