High school diving: Avon's Amanda Socha wins district crown

Amanda Socha kept her wits and didn't let the early going get her too frustrated at Tuesday's Division I district meet at Bowling Green State University. That mental strength made all the difference for the Avon High senior diver. Socha rallied from a slow start in the 11-dive competition to defeat Anthony Wayne's Grace Ellis for the title by just over point, 423.40 to 422.35. Ellis beat out Socha for second place at last year's BGSU district, 446.20 to 426.70. Socha is the first Lorain County girl to win a district diving championship since Avon Lake's Morgan Srail and Elyria Catholic's MacKenzie Tweardy took respective Division I and II titles at the Cleveland State district during the 2010-11 season. Socha was in third place at BGSU after prelims (the first five dives) with 186.60 points. Ellis led the field with 193.30 with Sylvania Southview's Alexa Walkovich (192.30) in second. Socha then moved into second place after the semis (the first eight dives), trailing Ellis by less than half a point, 303.25 to 302.85. "My prelim dives weren't my best, but moving forward I felt more relaxed," said Socha, a three-time Division I state qualifier. "Since it was so early in the meet, I didn't worry too much. I knew we had a lot of dives left. I'm a little surprised (to win it), but I knew that I would get all my dives back together." And she did just that. Socha was actually back as far seventh place earlier in the prelims. Socha had competed in only one meet in the last 5-6 weeks prior to districts. Socha had been sidelined with the flu from Jan. 4-19. She returned to action for the first time after the layoff at the Southwestern Conference meet on Jan. 24. The two-time SWC champ lost her bid for a third straight SWC title to Westlake's Grace Kelsheimer, 426.75 to 415.0. In addition, since there was no sectional diving meet this year, Socha had only team practices to use for a tune-up for districts. "It was a bit of a bummer (to lose the SWC title), but I knew I would work it back up for districts," Socha said. "I was a little concerned not having a sectional, but it ended up working out." Socha's biggest scoring dives of the day Tuesday came in the seventh round (reverse 1½), 10th round (front double) and 11th round (back 2½ twist). The top five finishers in the girls field and the top six finishers for boys at the BGSU district earned a ticket to next week's Division I state meet. Senior Michael Slaughter of Avon Lake and sophomore Ethan Belak both earned their second straight trips to state, finishing second and fifth, respectively, with scores of 427.90 and 381.15. Slaughter and Belak both had to rally to earn their spots. Slaughter was in fifth place (194.45) after prelims and Belak was in ninth place (165.0). "I went in hoping for second place because last year I was third," Slaughter said. "I had that thought in mind throughout the whole meet. I felt a little pressure. There were a lot of very good divers there. Fifth place (after prelims) wasn't where I wanted to be, but I ended up putting it all together." Belak also found a way to keep his poise when things didn't go as well early on. "I was feeling very stressed before the meet," said Belak, Amherst's first two-time state qualifier for diving. "For the first five (dives) I was really worried. Several of us (divers) kind of all agreed not to watch the scores for the rest of the competition and not to worry about the places. I wasn't sure what place I was in going into the finals." The semifinals went much better for Belak. He moved up to sixth place through eight dives with a score of 268.45. He then finished strong in the finals to move up one more place. St. Ignatius' Will Claus defended his BGSU district title, running away with the meet with a score of 497.65. The Division I girls state diving meet is slated for 9 a.m., Feb. 20 and the Division I boys state diving meet is 9 a.m., Feb. 22. The state meets are held at Canton's C.T. Branin Natatorium. Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.