Sheffield hosts national Age Groups diving dompetition

A strong team of local volunteers helped to put on an impressive four days of competition, involving divers from across the country.

Thursday 22nd June: Gold was the colour for Sheffield on Day 1, with our divers winning three of the four events they were entered for.

First came Izzy Diacon in the Girl’s C 1m, against a strong field of twenty-two other divers. Saving her best dive until last – a forward double somersault tucked that earned her 42.90 points – Diacon topped the board with 208.80, while fellow Sheffield diver Daisy Dennison came in 10th with 157.10.

Diving in the Girl’s D 3m event, it was Willow Kesteven-McGrath who took the next gold for Sheffield. She got off to a good start, with four of the five judges awarding her 8 points for her inward dive piked and continued to dive impressively to win the gold medal with 163.65 points.

Also from Sheffield, Eimear Satherley came 4th with 139.25, which was the same position achieved by Alex Christian in the Boy’s D 3m competition with a score of 118.00.

The day ended with Kesteven-McGrath and Satherley teaming up for the Girl’s C/D 1m synchro competition. The girls were very well matched, scoring 8 and 8½ from several synchronization judges and finishing with a total of 154.95 to win the competition and bring in Sheffield’s third gold medal of the day.

Friday 23rd June: The second day of competition saw three more gold medals and two silvers being added to the pot for Team Sheffield. In the Girl’s B Platform event, Megan Norton came 18th with 147.60 and Chloe Strutt was 5th with 197.45, but it was Dimarni Washington-Scott who emerged victorious with 207.40 to take gold.

Silver was the colour in the next event, in which Amy Robertson, Sophie Mae Hancox and Jessica Ireland were competing in the Girl’s A 1m. Robertson came 15th with 194.35 and Ireland was 12th with 201.80. Diving strongly and consistently, Hancox powered through the ranks to win silver with 250.45.

The next medal came in the Girl’s D 1m competition. Willow Kesteven-McGrath and Eimear Satherley were back in action – Satherley came in 7th with 133.55 while Kesteven-McGrath took her third gold in two days with 167.75, which included a fantastic 44 points for her impressive inward one-and-a-half somersaults tucked. Also on 1m for the Boy’s D group, Alex Christian scored 140.95 to win the silver medal, only 2.25 points off the top slot.

Finally, it was another gold for Izzy Diacon with a powerful performance in the Girl’s C Platform that scored 195.50 points.

Saturday 24th June: All eleven divers were in action on Day 3, bringing home a total of one gold, two silvers and a bronze medal. In the Girl’s A 3m competition, Amy Robertson came 12th with 251.40 and Jessica Ireland 9th with 259.30, while Sophie Mae Hancox – helped by a forward two-and-a-half somersaults piked that scored 44.40 – came in 2nd with 291.65 to win silver.

Willow Kesteven-McGrath and Eimear Satherley were up against each other again in the Girl’s D Platform event. Satherley scored 136.90 to win the bronze medal, her second medal of the meet, while it was four golds in a row for Kesteven-McGrath, winning with a score of 155.55. Alex Christian finished the day with his second silver medal, scoring 133.45 to come second in the Boy’s D platform event.

Sunday 25th June: The final day saw three more medals being added to Sheffield’s impressive tally – one of each colour. In the Girl’s B 3m event, Megan Norton scored 184.55 to come 21st while Dimarni Washington-Scott came 5th with 234.90. However, it was Chloe Strutt who took a medal, scoring 239.40 to win bronze.

Finally, Jessica Ireland and Sophie Mae Hancox were neck-and-neck in the Girl’s A Platform event, but it was Ireland’s penultimate dive – an impressive inward two-and-a-half somersaults tucked, scoring 51.30 – that put her into an unassailable lead. Hancox took the silver, her third, with 252.00 while Ireland won gold with 254.20.

It was a very successful few days of competition for Sheffield Diving. In all, the team won 8 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 2 bronze, making a very respectable total of 15 medals and putting Sheffield in second place overall, just behind Plymouth Diving Club.

Commenting on the successes in the pool, Sheffield Diving Head Coach Tom Owens said, “The event is the largest National diving event in the calendar and the club was thrilled to come away with 15 medals, including 8 gold and 6 National champions”.