Although Chelsea, Mich., first-year Jake Burris., may be smoothly breaking through the water’s surface, he sure is causing ripples on the record board. As a first-year diver on Albion College’s Swim and Dive team, he has already broken two school records.
The first record Burris broke was the one-meter dive school record that had previously been set in 2009-2010 season. The record went from 307.50 points to now being set at 313.85 points. He had been chasing this record since the dual meet against Alma on Oct. 31, 2015, where he was only two points away from breaking it. Months later, at the meet against Olivet and Wooster on Jan. 30, 2016, Burris finally beat the record.
“I found out I broke the records when they announced what places all of the divers got [at both meets],” Burris said. “I was so happy when I found out because getting onto a college record board has always been a goal of mine, and to have that goal achieved in the first year I have been at Albion just shines light on what my future has in store.”
The second record he broke was the three-meter dive school record. Not only did he break this twelve-year standing record, but later in the season, he broke the school record again (having already broken it once), making the new school record 340.55 points.
During both record breaking meets, Burris was able to perform his favorite dive, the 5333d, which is a reverse 1½ somersault and a 1½ twist. Luckily he has been around diving for a long time, so putting in the work it takes to be successful in the pool is not new to him.
“I like this dive because it is high degree of difficulty, but when it is done right and perfected in a meet then it looks really cool and scores well,” Burris said. “I have been diving for most of my life. I was raised around pools because my whole family has participated in either the sport of swimming or diving. My father was a diver and he dove at Eastern Michigan University. My mom was a swimmer all throughout high school and my brother is a swimmer here at Albion as well.”
Breaking both of these records led Burris to being selected as the MIAA Swimmer of the Week for the week of Jan. 25, 2016. Hopefully his high scores can carry over for the rest of the season.
Photo by Steve Marowski
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