Chartiers Valley divers caps career with third diving title
Nobody’s perfect. Just ask Maria Lohman. Although she wasn’t at the top of her game, the Chartiers Valley senior finished first. She captured her third straight state championship for diving. By the narrowest of margins, 2.3 points, Lohman won the PIAA title at Bucknell University to close out her scholastic career.
“I’m really excited to finish out my high school career the way I did,” she said. “Yes, by far” she added when asked if the 2015 gold was her most memorable. “Although I could have performed better, I am happy with the outcome.”
On her final three dives, Lohman nailed down the title, edging Marie Yacopino from North Penn, 508.23-506.05. Lohman recorded scores of 52.80, 54.60 and 47.30 on her final attempts.
“I was getting a little nervous,” Lohman admitted. “I knew I couldn’t miss any more dives if I wanted to win. I had to hit them.”
Lohman added, she knew the competition this year was going to be harder. “Maria (Yacopino) is a very good diver. I knew I had to do well.”
Early on Lohman executed her forward two-and-one-half somersault and her forward one-and-one-half somersault well. During her opening eight-dive repertoire, she was not pleased with her back one-half in the preliminaries or her reverse one-and-one-half in the semifinals.
“I missed a couple of dives. They were not as sharp as I wanted to do them,” Lohman said.
“But, I was comfortable with my front dives. I like to stack the beginning with my fronts and high degree of difficulty.”
Lohman noted her best dive, however, was a reverse one-and-one-half with a one-and-one-half twist. “The higher the degree of difficulty, the harder the dive is to do, I like doing those,” she said.
Nobody does the difficult dives as well as Lohman. In fact, she holds the state record in the sport. In addition, she is a four-time WPIAL champion to go along with the three state gold medals. She owns one silver for her second-place as a freshman.
“I’m really excited about the career I have had here at Char Valley and this last state title was the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication for the past four years. I owe a lot of thanks to my coaches and my teammates,” she continued. “They have been very supportive of me.”
That support will follow Lohman when she matriculates at the University of North Carolina. Lohman picked the Tar Heels over Arizona, Iowa, Cal-Berkley and Kentucky.
“North Carolina seemed to be the right fit for me, academically and athletically,” said Lohman, who plans to major in business. “I’m anxious to get started. I can’t wait for college.”
At the collegiate level, Lohman will be able to do more optional dives, which she prefers to voluntary dives. “It allows for me creativity and you have the ability to really show off your talents,” she said. “I’m going to work harder on my diving and perfecting my list.”
Two get Top 16
On the male side of diving, two area competitors finished in the Top 16. Cary Johns from Mt. Lebanon placed 13th in the Class AAA division. The senior scored 393.05 points. Trevor Mahoney took 12th in the AA division. The sophomore posted a 349 score.