By Terry Carter
After a pair of highly contested diving battles at the Jordan High School Natatorium on Thursday, District 19-6A, 1-meter diving champions Avery Coates of Katy and Tompkins’ Matthew Aigner were crowned.
Both required endurance, focus and precision to earn their district titles.
Coates (451.90) and Seven Lakes diver Kailey Koval (443.40) slowly pulled away from the meet’s eight other competitors during 11 rounds of district diving competition. Their scores were higher than any other competitors, including the boys. Coates, a sophomore, is driven in her diving after missing the 2021 district meet due to illness, her coach said.
Coates needed to be very precise to stay ahead of Koval. Both will be very competitive at upcoming meets, as will the divers who finished 3-4-5-6. They are third-place Lorenza Kabuloglu (380. 05) of Tompkins, Seven Lakes’ fourth-place Vivi Jokinen (353.45), Katy’s fifth-place Giselle Rojas (352.60) and rallying final regional qualifier Mikayla Kaplan (274.60) of Seven Lakes.
Aigner (441.05) edged Tompkins teammate Daniel Barrientos (432.80) for the top spot. Cinco Ranch’s Yuyi Kobe (287.35) earned third place, and Mayde Creek’s Lee Jordan (213.85) placed fourth. All four advance to the regional meet.
Six male and six female divers qualify for the upcoming regional swimming/diving meet, anticipated on Feb. 4-5. But first the District 19-6A meet at Jordan’s Natatorium will convene on Saturday for the district swimming competition.
According to information provided by Seven Lakes swimming coach Jordan Beck, Saturday’s district competition will feature a host of talented swimmers. Here is a list of names to watch with their grades included. They will compete at the Jordan Natatorium on Saturday from 3:30-7:30pm:
Cinco Ranch – Marina Garanzuay (10), Marley Barnard (9), Brandon Guo (12), Justin Guo (10)
Katy – Claire Hegar (11), Ellory Ram (10), Jake Skelton (12), Alexandra Zepeta-Otalora (9)
Mayde Creek – Ngozi Osode
Morton Ranch – Cricket Crawley (10), Nicholas Freeman (11)
Seven Lakes – Logan Arnold (12), Jason Li (11), Connor Jones (9), Gabe Jesurum (11), Taylor Craft (11), Gracelyn Cox (12), Alva Bjelland (12), Caroline Shade (10)
Taylor – Nick Schmid (12), Andrew Lee (12), Logan Pack (11), Reinaldo Obando Machado (12), Natalia Casas (12), Mariana Diaz Ponce (11), Isabella Xiao (9), Emma Watts (12)
Tompkins – Carter Gray (9), Jace Walker (12), Jason Wang (9), Spencer Hobbs (12), Jordan Musselman (10), Samantha Mok (12), Emily Chau (12)
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- Katy sophomore Avery Coates shows quality form on her back dive with 1.5 somersaults during Thursday’s district diving competition. Coates held off Seven Lakes’ talent Kailey Koval for the 19-6A title. Photo by UDPhotos
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- Seven Lakes diver Kailey Koval enters the water with authority on her final diver Thursday as she delivers her best effort, finishing second in District 19-6A. Photo by UDPhotos
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- Tompkins diver Daniel Barrientos completes his final dive, a back 1.5 somersaults, 1.5 twist finale as he attempts to catch District 19-6A champion Matthew Aigner. Barrientos finished a close second in this competition.
