This weekend all eyes were on the Plymouth Life Centre where it hosted the South West
Regional Skills diving competition. Plymouth Diving sponsored by Pilkington Estate were
extremely well represented at the event from debutant divers aged 8 to the eldest member in
the young squad aged 14 all hoping to emulate Plymouth Diving greats Tom Daley and
Tonia Couch and make it to the very top of the diving boards . The competition which
consists of a 12 dive circuit with competitors providing dives, from 1 and 3 metre boards as
well as high poolside is the first opportunity for divers to try and qualify for their National
Finals in July being held in Southend.
It was the youngest members of the squad to take to the pool first in the E category and in
front of a large crowd they produced a real spectacle. This category was featuring 5
debutants all of whom are the youngest members of the competition squad performing with
great confidence in their 12 dive routine scoring extremely well with Millie McLaren Smith
finishing in 8th place with a score 226.65, Saphia Howells 7th Place on 229.50 and Olivia
Birkett finishing 6th place on 229.65. Fifth and fourth places belonged to, two more
debutants at this level in Aria Cole on 250.25 and Katie-Rose Wilkingson finishing on
259.40, both Aria and Katie-Rose achieved a monumental moment finishing with enough
points to qualify for their 1st national finals. The medal positions were a close fought battle
throughout, in the end it was Ivy-May Davey who upgraded a bronze medal she achieved
earlier in the season to a gold medal with an impressive display of diving from 3m board and
create a new PB in the process with a score 280.55. 1 point separated Silver and bronze
medals with Bethany Hockaday surpassing her own personal best by 10 points to secure
the silver medal finishing with a score 271.70 and rounding off the podium position was
Lacey-Mae Hockings on a score of 270.05 with another diver impressing on 3m board and
increasing her PB by a considerable amount,all 3 girls on the podium confirming their
participation at Southend in July.
Another large participating category was next up in the form of the D category which
featured both a boys and girls section. The open section of the category featured 3 boys
from Plymouth diving, all diving superbly throughout the 3 disciplines. It was Bobby Cole
taking the gold medal with a fantastic score of 291.55 and in the process joining his younger
sister in qualifying for his 1st National Final event too. Silver and bronze medals had two
theo’s taking them, with Theo Todd winning silver on 253.45 and Theo Wills score of 243.70
enough to collect the bronze medal, fantastic results from them both on their competition
debut.
D girls was a hotly contested event with many divers collecting some very high scores from
the judges. The event saw Phoebe-Mae evans collect the first 9 of the competition, Aneya
burton score 3×9’s from a back tuck roll from the 3m board, 7 competitors from Plymouth
Diving scoring over the qualifying score to book their places in their age group finals and all
9 of them creating new PB’s. The medal results was a close run thing with less than 14
points separating the top 5 positions, with Aneya Burton claiming the gold with a score of
293.55 from her 12 dives, Emily Williams finished in silver medal position 0.8 points behind
the winner on 292.75. Bronze medal was collected by Imogen-Rose Hocking to match her
younger sister earlier in the day finishing with a score of 285.45, particularly looking strong
on the 3m board. Beating her personal best by over 20 points to finish 4th was Honor-Grace
Kelly scoring an impressive 282.30, closely followed by Phoebe-Mae Evans in 5th position
scoring 279.70 with her high poolside dives drawing big scores from the 3 judges. Rounding
off the divers who have qualified for their National Finals was Stephaine Clarke finishing in
6th place with a superb score of 272.60 very impressive considering it was her first
competition and Myia Lilley who dived with terrific consistency throughout her 12 dives and
creating a new personal best score of 264.65 to find herself in 7th place. Finishing
tantalisingly close to making qualification score was Lyra Johnson in 8th position with 250.40
and Charleigh-May Sharpe finishing in 9th position on 248.45, but both girls increased their
own personal best scores and will be looking forward to their next events.
C Category for girls and boys who were born in 2011 and 2012 were next to show the crowd
and judges what they could do off the diving boards in trying to qualify for the finals. Just like
the previous two events, it was a brilliant display of diving. The Medal position for the girls
section was only separated by 14 points but just like earlier in the season in their season
opening event Rae Mossford came out on top of the podium with the biggest score out of all
the girls on the day of 308.65. with a stunning front 1 and half off the 1m board a particular
highlight of her dives. Another Plymouth diving competitor tipping the score over 300 mark
was Margot Elliot finishing in the silver medal position and getting the results from all her
hard work with her coach the last few months with a superb display of consistency across
the 3 disciplines. Both medalists will be joined in Southend by 3rd place Isla Newton scoring
an impressive 294.25 and Isabella Stringer finishing just outside the medal places on a score
of 292.00 with her 3m being a strong board for her. Two more increased personal best
scores were achieved in the girls section with Lottie Tucker finishing in 6th place with a final
score of 260.70 and Grace Norsworthy in 8th position on 252.35.
Only the 1 boy from Plymouth Diving competed in the open C category section. This was
Daniel Robinson who took home the gold with a score of 265.10 looking very assured on the
3m board.
There was only one boy from Plymouth Diving in the open B category, with Kaiwen Dunn
holding hopes of gaining enough points to take his place again at yet another National Final
for himself. Unlike the previous categories, B category is only judged from dives off the 1m
and 3m boards. Being by himself didn't faze Kaiwen, cheered on by the crowd and his
coach, producing 10 incredible dives on his way to a gold medal and score of 347.50 and
securing his place in the finals too.
With 18 Plymouth Divers securing their places in their respective National Finals, 28
personal best scores and 8 competitive competition debuts, it was an incredibly succuessful
day of diving for all concerned. The competition highlights that the future of diving in
Plymouth is very bright, along with the incredible continued support from sponsor Pilkington
Estates and Plymouth Active Leisure will hopefully yield even more success in July.
The Divers were coached by Sally Freeman, Fito Gutierrez, Tommy Davis, Cody Powell
Tuckett, Lucy Gutierrez and Ebony Colbourne. Plymouth would like to extend thanks and
appreciation to the coaches, judges and volunteers behind the scenes able to make the
competition run so well.
