Photo Courtesy Hill’ s Studio
The girls’ swimming team went undefeated this first season in their new pool and won the section championship.
training for different kinds of events. The new pool has really motivated the kids to swim fast.”
For diving coach Vernon Yenick, the natatorium attracted talented athletes who blended nicely with his existing top‐performers. Coach Yenick says divers from his team, as well as those from visiting teams, have raved about the new diving boards and say they are the best in the entire area.
“ The spring in the new boards led to some incredible jumping in the divers’ approaches,” says Coach Yenick. The approach can greatly influence the success or failure of the actual dive. One athlete who benefited from the improved boards was sophomore diver Jonah Cagley. He not only qualified for the WPIAL diving championship, but won first place, becoming the first Fox Chapel Area diver in history to do so. He beat the second place finisher by more than 30 points! Earlier in the regular season, he made history at the new pool by surpassing a scoring record set by JB Kolod, a Fox Chapel Area alum who went on to have a stellar diving career at the University of Virginia and was an Olympic trials qualifier.
Additionally, freshman novice Nate Serkov was the first on the team to qualify for the WPIAL diving championship, and he did it at the team’ s very first home meet in the new pool, in his first set of dives, in his first-ever diving competition. His success was even more remarkable considering the WPIAL increased the qualifying level by 20 points this season. A total of five divers advanced to the WPIAL championship.
Coach Yenick, who has mentored some of the area’ s top divers, adds,“ Having a great new pool, more interest in the program, and an amazing team doing incredible things – it’ s more than I could have ever possibly imagined or hoped for. We have the strength and ability to be great performers, kids who are great people and great athletes, and a crazy beautiful pool that is by far the best in Western Pennsylvania. It’ s exciting just to walk into the complex.”
Photo Courtesy Primetime Shots
Photo Courtesy Primetime Shots Photo Courtesy Hill’ s Studio ox Chapel Area FOX CHAPEL AREA SCHOOL NEWS
Fox Chapel Area | Spring 2017 | icmags. com 21