The Deep End — MIAA sends six divers to national championships

In an interview prior to the MIAA dual meets, diving coach Elyse Lee stated  that the conference was going to be one of the most competitive nationally in swimming and diving. The athletes themselves proved this to be true when the MIAA sent six divers out of a possible 44 to the national championships.

Every season the division III scoring judges select 22 divers from both the men’s and women’s divisions to compete at nationals. Out of the six divers selected from the MIAA, two divers from Albion were selected to compete in the competition.

Emily Magyar, Gobles senior, was one of the two from Albion and one of four selected within the women’s division of the MIAA to compete in the event. Magyar scored 444.70 in the 3-meter dive to place her in fourth nationally, giving her All-American status for the second time in her college career.

Ty Lattimore, Grosse Pointe Farms senior, was one out of two men’s divers selected from the MIAA. Lattimore finished 13th in the 1-meter and 14th in the 3-meter, giving him the status of All-American honorable mention. It was the second time that Lattimore made it to the national meet, and he feels that the experience he gained from the 2009 meet helped him a lot more in his dives this year

“I was a lot more confident this year,” Lattimore said. “I’ve never been in a meet with so many quality divers who were doing dives that I have never seen before. Being exposed to that really helped me train for the meet this season, and I dove a lot better because of it.”

Swimming and diving head coach Keith Havens said that it is a huge accomplishment to send any one diver to nationals in the MIAA because of how extensive the selection process is.

“Making a score that is high enough to get reviewed by the national judges is a big feat for a diver,” Havens said. “Having two divers from Albion and six within the conference obviously shows that there are some high quality divers within the MIAA.”

In order to make it to nationals, divers must first make a national qualifying score in the conference championships or on two boards in a dual meet. They then send their dives into a panel of judges who rescore their dives and rank them within the total number of submissions they receive. The top 22 are then selected within the men’s and women’s division to compete at the national meet.

Havens is appreciative of what both of his senior national divers have brought to the table this season and states that they will both be greatly missed on the team next season.

“Both are very hard workers with a lot of natural talent and have been very fun to watch over the past four seasons,” Havens said. “They gave us a good chance to score points every meet, and their experience, maturity and leadership will be greatly missed.”

Athlete Profile: Ty Lattimore

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