SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

Metro divers show well in CIF postseason

By Phillip Brents
Posted May 24, 2004

Two standout careers came to an end this past week for a pair of Metro Conference divers: Hilltop senior Kyle Kovar and Mar Vista senior Kim Forrest.

Kovar finished third in the San Diego Section Division I championship meet May 21 at Mesa College with a career-best point total of 378.60. Forrest placed sixth in the Division II championship meet May 18, also at Mesa College, with a 266.55 point total.

Both earned honors as the 2004 Metro Conference Divers of the Year.

Dedication, leadership and a commitment to excellence defined the careers of both divers, according to their respective coaches.

“The No. 1 thing about Kyle is his maturity,” Hilltop boys swim coach John Salts said. “He’s really come through over the year. He focused himself his senior year. He focused on making himself a more complete diver. He became a leader on our team when we needed the leadership. He’s hit the mark.”

Kovar finished this senior year with an armful of awards. He earned the Lancers’ Ironman award during the fall water polo season and team MVP honors for both diving and swimming during the spring sports season. Besides winning this third conference Diver of the Year award in four years, Kovar also placed third in the boys 500-yard freestyle event at this year’s Metro finals May 15 at the Loma Verde pool.

Other awards snared by Kovar during the 2003-04 interscholastic term included captain awards for both water polo and swimming and the leadership award for swimming. He also maintains a 3.68 GPA.

Kovar, who set a school record with 263 points for six dives this season, is up for nomination as Hilltop’s male athlete of the year award — inclusive of all sports on campus.

“It’s been a wonderful ride to see it all come together,” Salts said.

Though Forrest did not win this year’s girls diving title — that honor went to Eastlake’s Ashley Perez — Mar Vista coach Dan Kovar cited Forrest’s “intense” work ethic as a determining factor for her selection as the conference’s Female Diver of the Year.

“She was there for every practice. She’s a leader. That’s how it’s been from the start. Diving means a lot to her,” the Mariner dive coach said.

Forrest set what is believed to be a school record with her 195.5 point total in a dual meet against Hilltop earlier this season.

After finishing runner-up at last year’s conference diving finals with 317.70 points, she was in contention to win this year’s meet before failing her final dive — a back somersault with a full twist — to finish in fourth place — 24.55 points behind winner Perez (306.30 points) and 17.05 points out of second place captured by Eastlake’s Samantha Womer (298.80 points), the 2002 girls champion.

“She was right there all throughout the meet,” Dan Kovar said in reference to Forrest.

Perez had placed third at last year’s Metro diving finals and had out-pointed Womer 195.5 to 182.05 in head-to-head six-dive competition during the Titans’ dual meet against Bonita Vista April 29 at Southwestern College. In the 11-dive meet that kicked off this year’s conference finals May 14 at the Loma Verde pool, Perez finished 7.5 points ahead of runner-up Womer and 19.2 points ahead of third-place Sofia Murga of Hilltop, who had been hitting spectacular dives throughout the afternoon.

Forrest finished 35.95 points behind her second-place point total of the year before. Murga finished fifth last year. She raised her point total by 54.45 points.

Perez improved 19.85 points in her performance from the 286.45 points she scored last year. Womer improved 15.8 points from last year’s fourth-place finish.

“I got third place last year. I thought anything above that would be great this year,” Perez said. “I executed my dives better this year. I added a few more dives — one of which helped me — the back one-and-one-half. My coach (Ashley Monzon) pushed me a lot this year.”

The top five girls placers, in fact, were separated by 42.85 points to constitute one of the most competitive diving finals in recent memory. Following Forrest on the judges’ scoresheet was Bonita Vista’s Lauren Way (263.45 points). Placing sixth was Bonita Vista’s Courtney Lung (188.95 points) while Baron teammate Jody Heckel (184.10 points) finished seventh.

The top 12 place-finishers at the divisional diving championships earn All-CIF honors while the top six placers receive medals.

The Metro Conference qualified a total of 10 divers — five male and five female — for postseason competition and finished with three male All-CIF divers and two female All-CIF divers.

Among the conference’s male divers, Chula Vista’s Bryan Flitcraft and Ian Tisdale joined Hilltop’s Kovar as All-CIF divers at the Division I meet while Eastlake’s Womer and Mar Vista’s Forrest both earned All-CIF honors at the girls Division I and Division II meets, respectively.

Kovar entered his final three dives within striking distance of both first and second place in the Division I field but a poor final dive relegated him to third place — but still well above the 342.55 points he scored in placing second at last year’s Division II finals and the 334.45 points with which he won the Division II competition as a sophomore. He finished 19.30 points behind Poway junior Brad Miller (second place, 397.90 points) and 36.25 points behind Division I winner Aaron Stinson of RBV (414.85 points).

Forrest, choosing to discard some of her more risky (and potentially higher scoring) dives at the CIF meet, placed sixth out of 11 female divers at the Division II finals with 266.55 points after placing fifth at last year’s finals with 292.75 points.

Womer finished in 10th place in the Division I girls competition with 287.50 points.

Way, Perez and Murga all failed to make it to the final three rounds of competition featuring the top 12 divers.

Flitcraft, who set a school record this season with 210 points for six dives, finished third with 256.75 points at the conference finals ahead of teammate Tisdale (fifth, 253.65 points). At the Division I meet, Tisdale — sporting a new aerodynamic hairstyle — may have had the best day of his two-year career with an eighth-place finish at 269.55 points. Flitcraft finished 12th with 245.19 points after placing 11th the previous year with 239.80 points.

Hilltop’s Alan Flores (second at the Metro finals with 274.55 points) and Fernando Yates (fourth at the Metro finals with 256.60 points) failed to make the final cut of 12 divers after eight rounds at the Division I meet. Flores placed fifth at the 2003 Division II finals with 253.40 points.

A total of 34 divers competed in the Division I finals and 17 divers at the Division II meet. As a measure of the level of competition this year, 11 divers finished with more than 350 points at the Division I championships, including nine divers with more than 375 points and six divers with more than 390 points.