Diving Updates!

 Cooper! Is at USA Diving junior nationals in Mission Viejo, CA this week. Here I am watching warm ups:

Yesterday, he had 3 meter prelims. To make it to semis, he needed to be 6th place or better. Going into the 9th and final round, he was in FIFTH PLACE! His final dive was a reverse 1.5, and he needed to get ok scores-- like 5's-- to clinch his semifinal spot. He got... 3.5's. He just BIFFED IT you guys. It was a sunny day, and he was diving outside, and he thought the sky was the water so he came out of his tuck when he saw the "water" but then when he figured out it was the sky he had to maneuver like crazy to save the dive-- thank god he didn't get hurt.

The girls and I were watching at home, and Harry was watching at work. He screamed NOOOOOOOO when it happened and freaked some people out. My YouTube was a little slow, so I got Ben's "Ooooooof" text seconds before the dive happened and was at least. a little prepared.

It happens at 1:46-- you can totally see him realize he's in trouble mid air.

Coop's in great spirits, though, because he is only 13 competing his first year in 14/15 boys, and he did not expect to have a competitive list or compete with the best kids, and there he was! Hanging right in there! He does a front, inward, and back 2.5 (instead of 1.5), and now he is really motivated to get a reverse 2.5 as well-- a real big boy list for sure.

He has 1-meter prelims today at 11:55 am CA time, and you can watch on the USA Diving YouTube if you want to. He is group B boys (there are 2 events happening at once with 2 different live streams of the same pool-- it is slightly confusing).

Back at home, Dorothy competed in the All-City dive meet on Monday and was fab. She did not make the final round, but she dove really well and had fun with pool and school friends.

It was 11,000 degrees in the shade, but Minnie was a trooper

Last night was Jack's turn to shine at All-City, and boy did he! He got 9th in 15-19 boys and was awesome. He even banged his Apple watch on the diving board railing during in approach for his double pike and ended up leaving the board on two feet and still made the dive-- that's YEARS of diving experience right there.

He also got a brand new dive for finals-- a back 1.5 straight. It looks so cool the announcer actually SAID that was cool while he was under water:

There's an elementary school across the street from the host pool thank goodness, so Minnie had fun while the top 16 warmed up their finals dives, even though it was still 95 degrees and humid. Slight disaster when the snow cone truck was already gone when we got there-- averted by a trip to DQ on the way home-- phew!

After the meet, the kids all threw ridiculous stuff while the hosts got awards ready. I was too busy screaming belly flop to film Jack-- it was epic. 

Next year is Jack's LAST All-City meet if you can even believe that. And! OUR POOL IS HOSTING!! I can't wait (I even signed up to be on the host committee)-- how cool to have your SENIOR RECOGNITION for your favorite sport AT YOUR OWN POOOOOL!!!