Reports From Jessica Pollack
Two Long Beach Divers won both Boys and Girls Springboard Diving Competitions at Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Masters Dive Championships. Poly High School Sophomore, Deon Reid easily took Gold in the boys competition and Millikan High School Senior, Paulina Guzman won the girls competition at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool where the two train year-round with McCormick Divers.
Reid earned 378.20 points, more than 45 points higher than the second place finisher. This is equivalent to the number of points earned for a single dive for most divers. McCormick Divers head coach, Debby McCormick says Reid was totally on his game for five of the six dives. This more than made up for low scores after Reid’s foot slipped on the board on his inward two and a half somersault, which would mean disaster for most divers.
In the girls competition, Guzman easily won with a 24 point lead. This is her final high school competition. She finishes out this year with Regional and National Competitions as well as an International Competition in Puerto Rico in July. Guzman moves on to UCLA in the fall.
Reid and Guzman were joined by teammates who train with McCormick Divers at the Belmont Pool both for high school and club competitions. Wilson High School Senior, Larry Reinhard closed out his high school career with a 5th place finish after nearly missing last week’s Division I qualifying competition with a neck injury. Reinhard will continue his diving career at Stanford University following the summer Regional and National competitions.
LaSerna High School Junior, Adam Springer had a good day diving for 6th Place besting his Division II rival. St. Anthony’s Sophomore, Nykola Bodnar rounded out the McCormick Divers boys with 12th place. All of the above divers train at the Belmont Pool for High School Competitions because their schools don’t have separate diving teams and facilities.
In the girls competition, Los Alamitos High School Junior, Sydney Czaus earned 6th place. She trains part-time with the Los Al High School Dive team during the school season and year-round with McCormick Divers at the Belmont Pool.