Nyko Bodnar

11:45am | Long Beach high school diving champion Nyko Bodnar, a junior at St. Anthony High School, is being featured in the May 30 edition of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Kat Bodnar, his mother, said her son was nominated to be featured in the magazine’s “Faces in the Crowd” section based on his “outstanding” performance as a diver both for his high school and with McCormick Divers in Long Beach. Out of a large field of candidates, Bodnar was among six high school athletes from across the nation who were selected to be featured for the week of May 30.

A three-time CIF division champion, Nyko Bodnar recently walked away from the CIF State Diving Championships as the Division III champ. He was Division IV champ in 2009 and 2010. He was also named a National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association All-American High School Diver in 2010.

At St. Anthony, a small, inner-city school that does not have a swim team or a pool, Nyko Bodnar is affectionately known as the “Lone Wolf” diver, his mother said.

The May 30 edition of Sports Illustrated featuring the young Long Beach athlete hit news stands today, Thursday, May 26, and should have arrived in subscribers’ mailboxes on yesterday. The weekly “Faces in the Crowd” feature is on page 23. The feature can also be viewed online beginning Thursday at SI.com/faces.