Leading the Pack
Seneca Valley has formed a monopoly when it comes to the best Class 3A boys divers in the WPIAL. That may change at Saturday's championship meet at North Allegheny High School, but the numbers in front of SV's entries speak for themselves and provide a good indicator of what they are capable of.
Junior Isaiah Clerkley and seniors Jeremiah Laslavic and Sam Hersick enter the championship ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the district.
All three are no strangers to preparing for and doing well at such a big event. Last year, they each qualified for the state meet by finishing second, third and fifth at WPIALs.
"Prepping for a meet like this, everyone's a little more focused and we're getting more dives in," said Clerkley, whose WPIAL-best effort of 315.15, just a few points from SV's school record, came at North Allegheny just three weeks ago.
Laslavic began diving in the seventh grade and admits it took a while for him to truly begin to enjoy the sport.
"My freshman year, I didn't have much fun with it," he said. "But from my sophomore year until now, it's been amazing for me. When I dive into the water, knowing that I've just nailed a dive, I get such an adrenaline rush from that."
As his technique improved, his confidence followed suit.
"During my sophomore year, I started thinking about doing a front 2½ somersault, but was reluctant to try it at first. My older brother, Matthew, was on the team and he really helped me gain the confidence to work on it.
"It took me about a year to finally get it down, but now it's one of my best dives."
Also competing for the Raiders will be junior Miles Miller. Another junior, Colin Stevens, qualified for the meet, but school's cannot have more than four divers taking to the board.
"All of them work very well together," said SV coach Nancy Laslavic. "They support each other and are genuinely happy to see each other succeed."
Nancy Laslavic is assisted by Mike Caccamo. They've both done their part to steer SV's divers toward success.
"They take turns giving corrections," Clerkley said. "They point out the little things that we may not notice, but things the judges are looking for."
Competing in the Class 3A girls meet will be Seneca Valley senior Erin Castagnero, junior Chloe Petersen and freshman Cooper Burcham. Entries from Mars will include junior Emily Mueller and sophomore Mya Lee.
Class 2A
North Catholic's Maggie Foley is already in very select company, having won three straight WPIAL Class 2A girls diving titles. Winning a fourth would match what only four other girls, regardless of class, have achieved in district history.
On the cusp of such a rare feat, Foley has the same mind-set she used to win her first three crowns.
"I just want to have a clean list and put all of my training to work," she said.
The chance to do so will come Friday afternoon in the WPIAL Championship meet at North Allegheny High School.
Foley is seeded fourth with a score of 246.65, achieved at a meet in late December against Pine-Richland. She mentioned Thomas Jefferson's Addison Arndt (seeded first, 259.80) and Quaker Valley's Ruby Olliffe and Kate Blackmer as among her top competition. Olliffe, a sophomore, was runner-up last year, finishing 77 points behind Foley.
"It's weird, scoring during the regular season this year didn't seem to be as high as in years past," Foley said. "But I feel like I've been diving well and my degree of difficulty is higher.
"If I dive the way I'm capable of, it should lead to success."
