Pine-Richland senior Dominic Giordano came into the WPIAL Class AAA Diving Championships as the defending gold medalist and the unquestioned favorite. Giordano did not disappoint the crowd at North Allegheny High School. Not only did he capture his second consecutive gold medal, but Giordano set a new WPIAL finishing the competition with 610.00 points after his 11 dives.
Heading into his last dive, the was no question that the Florida State bound diver would take the top spot, but Giordano’s total was 539.80, 67.70 points off the WPIAL record of 607.30 set by Connor Kuremsky of North Allegheny in 2011.
Giordano admitted afterwards he knew exactly how many points he needed to score to achieve “one of his goals” and set the new record. Giordano, who was mostly flawless throughout the competition, was flawless on his final attempt, netting a total of 70.20 points on the McDonald’s Dive of the Match. In addition to his second consecutive goal medal, Giordano finished third as a sophomore in 2011 and took home the bronze.
Noah Bostick captured the silver medal finishing with 496.65 points. The junior from North Hills was the bronze medalist in 2012. Butler’s Levi Cetti captured this year’s bronze with 461.15 points. Cetti, a junior competing in his 3rd straight championship, was 5th in last year’s meet. Three seniors, Ryan Kennedy from North Hills, Christian Wrigley from North Allegheny and Peters Township’s Cody Pyles placed 4th through 6th respectively and those divers along with the medalists have qualified for the Class AAA PIAA Championships. The State Championships are scheduled for Saturday March 16th at Bucknell University.
Here is the final order of finish:
WPIAL Class AAA Boys 1 Meter Diving
Name Year School Total Points
1 Giordano, Dominic SR Pine Richland 610.00
2 Bostick, Noah JR North Hills 496.65
3 Cetti, Levi JR Butler 461.15
4 Kennedy, Ryan SR North Hills 423.05
5 Wrigley, Christian SR North Allegheny 410.40
6 Pyles, Cody SR Peters Township 402.85
7 Doerfler, Andrew SO North Allegheny 364.15
8 Johns, Cary SO Mount Lebanon 327.15
9 Lynch, Addison JR Fox Chapel 309.60
10 Sederholm, Andrew FR Franklin Regional 296.05
11 Ference, Joey FR Penn Trafford 294.40
12 Devine, Tommy JR Peters Township 284.95
13 Hilderbrand, Lucas SR North Allegheny 279.95
14 Kisiel, Luke SO Connellsville Area 272.25
15 Schratz, Christian JR Peters Township 261.00
16 Fink, Randy SR Mount Lebanon 256.65
17 Dupars, Joseph SR Woodland Hills 183.60
18 Stock, Paul SR Penn Trafford 182.85
19 Crawford, Kevin SR Peters Township 178.50
20 Bertoni, Mike SO Penn Trafford 168.05
21 Kern, Nathan SR Pine Richland 119.30
22 Todd, Nathan JR Hempfield Area 118.15
23 Schon, Kevin FR Franklin Regional 114.90
24 Wolff, Joey FR North Hills 112.25
25 McCollough, Levi FR Butler 110.65
26 Blair, Anthony SR Penn Hills 107.60
27 Piett, Thad SO Shaler Area 105.30
28 Barta, Taylor SO Greater Latrobe 104.00
29 Hawthorne, Ben SO Hampton 101.90
30 Redman, Riley SO Pittsburgh Central 98.65
31 Douglas, Rachel FR Greater Latrobe 91.85
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No WPIAL diver had ever won had ever won gold medals in back-to-back years in two different classifications…until now. Maria Lohman, who won the Class AA title last year as a freshman, edged out Bethel Park’s Ashley Sams on her final dive to capture her second straight diving title.
At the WPIAL Girls AAA Championships held at North Allegheny High School. Lohman and Sams battled back and forth the entire day, with both competitors leapfrogging one another after all eleven dives. Lohman held a 9.20 point lead heading into the final dive but Sams dove first and led by 37.95 before Lohman clinched the championship by 4.55 points after a back dive on her final attempt finishing with 467.60 points. Sams had to settle for her second consecutive silver medal with a final score of 463.05.
The competition for the spots two through six was also back and forth between teammates from North Allegheny and Fox Chapel. NA sophomore Julia Vespoli captured the bronze medal with a score of 379.50, and Fox Chapel sophomore Miranda Simon finished fourth with 336.45 points. Carrie Bookheimer, a senior from North Allegheny placed fifth with a score 335.05 and Fox Chapel sophomore Emily Eames earned sixth place with a final total of 328.35. The top six qualifiers will move on to represent the WPIAL in the Class AAA PIAA Diving Championships set for Friday March 15th at Bucknell University.
Here is the final order of finish:
WPIAL Class AAA Girls 1 Meter Diving
Name Year School Total Points
1 Lohman, Maria SO Chartiers Valley 467.20
2 Sams, Ashley SR Bethel Park 463.05
3 Vespoli, Julia SO North Allegheny 379.50
4 Simon, Miranda SO Fox Chapel 336.45
5 Bookheimer, Carrie SR North Allegheny 335.05
6 Eames, Emily SO Fox Chapel 328.35
7 Ferrari, Fallon SR Baldwin 323.00
8 Litwin, Brionna FR Bethel Park 322.80
9 Weiland, Claire FR Butler 302.55
10 Siano, Alyssa JR Hampton 297.85
11 Nedrow, Kaitlyn SR Connellsville 291.50
12 Perry, Alison JR Gateway 276.80
13 Gerber, Rena JR Franklin Regional 270.35
14 Lehman, Madison SR Seneca Valley 260.10
15 Schmidt, Katelyn JR North Hills-AM 258.75
16 McGivern, Lindsay SR Hampton 257.85
17 Grimm, Bailey SR Peters Township 193.25
18 Marino, Kalin JR Hempfield 189.80
19 Capozzi, Maria FR Bethel Park 188.30
20 Denne, Alexandria SR Gateway 185.50
21 Kline, Desiree SO Canon-McMillan 115.40
22 Starratt, Courtney SR Franklin Regional 111.70
23 Walters, Brooke SO Seneca Valley 84.50