McCormick Divers Youngest Members
Prep for Home Meet
By Jessica Pollack
McCormick Divers are preparing
Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool to host the Glenn McCormick Memorial
Invitational Dive Meet. November 12-14, up to 500 families
from Southern California and other Western States will come to Long
Beach for the annual competition.
Divers from six-years old and up are scheduled to compete in Novice,
Junior Olympic, and Master’s competitions. Long Beach’s youngest
divers are excited to compete close to home for a hometown audience.
Among the local divers are some of the area’s youngest athletes
including 7-year-old Isabella Markham from Seal Beach and Drew
Coomans from Long Beach. Drew’s 9-year-old sisters Anna and
Natalie will be competing in the 9-and-under girls events.
Other divers in the 9-and-under girls are sisters 8-year-old Tatum
and 9-year-old Laine Marshall and Jenna Sonnenberg who all attend
Patrick Henry Elementary School, and Madeleine Tully also from Long
Beach. Madeleine’s little brother, Marcus will compete in
the boys 7-and-under events.
In the 10-to-11 year old girls, Allison DeYoung and Mady Halbert of
Long Beach, Malia Armstrong of Seal Beach and Michelle Lee of
Hacienda Heights will compete in the Novice girls and Long Beach
divers Megan Marino, Sarah Knippa, and Keri Erkman and Huntington
Beach Jacqui Cleugh compete in the 11-and-under Junior Olympic
events.
McCormick Divers is the longest continuously running dive program in
Southern California. They have trained at Belmont Plaza pool
year-round since it opened in 1968. Glenn McCormick was
instrumental in the design of the dive area of the pool.
McCormick Divers is proud to hold this annual meet in his memory.
Long Beach Diver Medals at
Master's
(Also
read on gazettessports.com here)
by Jessica Pollack
Long Beach
resident Charly Collins is used to spending his weekends at
springboard and platform dive meets. In the past six years, it
has been as a coach and judge for Long Beach McCormick Divers.
This weekend, he was back on the boards in the USA Diving Summer
Masters National Championships held at UCLA.
He won third
place with 405.60 points on the 3-meter springboard. This is a
personal best in the 30-34 year old Men’s Category. Collins
says he’s pleased to have done so well in an age group that is
still very competitive. Master’s Competitions are open to
divers 21 years and older who are no longer competing in the Senior
Level competitions used to choose the U.S. international teams
including World Championships and Olympics. Often, competitors
in their 30’s are still fresh off of the Senior circuit and still
in top competitive form.
Collins also
competed in the platform competition earning his best scores on a
forward one-and-a-half somersault with a full twist. He says
that next year, if he is up to competing in Master’s Competitions,
he’ll take some extra time out of his coaching schedule at
McCormick Divers who train at Belmont Plaza Olympic for his own
training sessions. Collins admits that his biggest challenge
is taking time for training while he’s busy preparing his divers
for their own National Competitions.
Long Beach Divers Return from
National Championships
(Also
read on Gazettessports.com here)
by Jessica Pollack
Six local divers who train
at Belmont Olympic Plaza Pool in Long Beach recently returned home
from the American Athletic Union (AAU) Diving National Championships
in Coral Springs, Florida. The divers train with McCormick
Divers, a local aquatics club. McCormick’s top
finisher was Lakewood resident, Nykola Bodnar, a St. Anthony student
who finished 4th in the 16-year-old boys 1-meter springboard
competition. Nyko opened the competition strong with high
marks on his initial dives and his highest marks for his inward
one-and-a-half somersault tuck in the final round.
Three McCormick
girls competed in their first-ever National competition.
10-year-old Jacqueline Cleugh from Huntington Beach and 11-year-old
Megan Marino from Long Beach both had their best finish on the 3
meter springboard competitions. Jacqui finished 7th in the 10
year old girls with her best score on her inward one and a half
somersault dive. She also competed on 1 meter springboard and
5 meter platform in the 11-and-under category finishing in 10th
place in each competition. Megan finished 6th on 3 meter
springboard in the 11 year old girls age group. Megan earned
her top scores on her first and last dives an inward dive in pike
position and an inward one and a half in tuck position. Megan
finished 12th in the 1 meter springboard competition. Erica
Curry from Fountain Valley finished 24th in the very competitive 16
year girl 1 meter springboard competition. She earned her best
scores with her forward double somersault.
The club also
boasts some of the strongest boy divers in Southern California.
Huntington Beach resident Brandon Loschiavo finished 6th in the 1
meter and 8th in the 3 meter 13 year old boys competitions.
Brandon’s top score was on his forward two and a half somersault
dive on the 3 meter board and his inward one and a half on the 1
meter board. Seventeen-year-old Whittier resident, Adam Springer
finished 6th on the 1 meter springboard and 8th on the 3 meter
springboard competition in the 18 year old boys category. He
earned his top scores on his back somersault with one and a half
twists on 1 meter and his back one and a half somersault straight on
3 meter springboard. Adam and Nyko paired up for their first
National synchronized diving competition on both 1 and 3 meter
boards in the 16 to 18 year boys category.
3McCormick Diver Receives
All-American Status
Fellow McCormick Diver, Nyko
Bodnar, was among the 130 divers selected at the NISCA H.S.
All-American weekend this past June 2-5. The top 130 slots represent
the top 1% of high school divers in the country and to be named to
this list is a big accomplishment! We are very proud of Nyko and
wish him future success in the upcoming summer season (since we have
big plans for him now ^.^). GO McCormick!!
Long
Beach Post article here <---
If you are interested in seeing
the entire list of divers that made the All-American list, as well
as the videos of the National Champions, Click
here!!!
McCormick Diver Receives
Scholarship
Congratulations to Larry Reinhard
for receiving the Lee Brennan Memorial Scholarship Award this past
weekend at the Memorial Meet this past weekend, June 3-5. This
scholarship award is given to high school-aged, graduating seniors
and are active participants in the USDiving Southern Pacific
Association. Consideration criteria includes: students in good
standing with a "C" average, community service, and
other accomplishments and accolades. Larry, along with this
award, receives $2500 to use for his studies next year at Stanford
in which he hopes to walk-on to the collegiate diving
team.
The
Lee Brennan Memorial Scholarship was donated from the Brennan family
through the Orange Community Foundation. Application for future
athletes can be obtained at www.oc.oc-cf.org
or through your high school guidance counselor's office.
Congratulations again Larry!!!
What a nice honor to be recognized this way. We are all proud of
you!!!
McCormick Divers Shine at CIF-SS
Master's Meet!!!
A very
heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS goes out to all 6 of our McCormick Divers
that participated in today's CIF-Southern Section
"Master's" Championships today (Larry Reinhard, Adam
Springer, Deon Reid, Nyko Bodnar, Sydney Czaus, and Paulina
Guzman)!!! A day of personal bests and the crowning of Deon Reid and
Paulina Guzman as CHAMPION'S of the Southern Section!!!
Below are
some of the local article's written about that day. Click on the
link to jump to the story. Enjoy!!!
LongBeachPost.com
- Long Beach Divers GO Master
OCVarsity.com
- Eagle's Murphy takes Silver at Master's/Reid and Murphy go round
Press-Telegram
- Reid, Guzman take Master's Diving Crown
McCormick Divers To Compete At
CIF Masters Meet
By Ashleigh Oldland (Grunion-Gazette.com)
From
platforms and springboards, McCormick Divers are diving into the
deep end at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern
Section Masters Meet next Tuesday, May 18, at Belmont Plaza Olympic
Pool.
McCormick Divers, a team founded more than four decades ago, is a
year-round program for young people from age 6 to 18. Directed and
coached by Debby McCormick, the team primarily practices at Belmont
Pool, which was built in 1967 for the 1968 Olympic trials.... (Story
after the jump here)
Long
Beach Divers Headed to CIF Southern Section Finals
By Jessica Pollack
Long Beach is set to host the CIF
Southern Section Masters Meet May 18th at Belmont Olympic Pool.
Belmont is home turf for ten McCormick Divers likely to qualify in
the four divisions. Each Division has its own final at
Fullerton College May 11, 12, and 13. The top two
finishers in each division plus the next six highest scorers move on
to the CIF SS Master Meet.
Division 1 includes 3 boys and 3 girls who represent their high
schools for CIF and train with McCormick Divers year round.
Division I girls include Millikan High School Senior, Paulina Guzman
who won second place in 2009 and hopes to get gold this year.
Junior, Sydney Czaus, is breaking all Los Alamitos High School
Records in Sunset League. She came third at the CIF SS Masters
competition last year and is expected to medal again this year.
Fountain Valley High School sophomore, Erica Curry hopes to earn her
first trip to Masters in one of the lottery spots.
Division I Huntington Beach High School Sophomore, Amy Loschiavo, is
likely to earn a spot at Masters in her first Championships.
Division I boys include Poly High sophomore, Deon Reid has an
excellent chance at a medal again this year after winning Southern
Section Masters last year. Wilson High Senior, Larry Reinhard, came
in fourth in 2009 and hopes to medal this year. Los Alamitos
High School Sophomore, Adam Payne hopes to earn his first trip to
Masters this year.
In
Division II Palos Verdes High SchoolSenior, Mark Bessen hopes for a
spot at Masters in this first year diving. La Serna High
School Junior, Adam Springer expects to compete at Masters from
Division III and Division IV/Freelance Sophomore and 2009 Division
IV Champ, Nyko Bodnar from St. Anthony’s High School expects to
round out the McCormick Divers in the Varsity Boys competition.
McCormick
Divers Head to National Championships
Three Long Beach
divers are headed for Minneapolis, Minnesota for the USA Diving
Western Junior National Championships. Wilson High School
Senior, Larry Reinhard, Jr. and Poly High School Sophomore, Deon
Reid both qualified to compete in the boys 16-18 year old
competition. Millikan High School Senior, Paulina Guzman
qualified in the girls 16-18 competition....(Click
here to read more!!!)
Diving:
Two LB Divers Compete For Youth Olympic Berth
Report
by Jessica Pollack (as
seen on lbpost.com)
Two Junior
Divers from McCormick Divers in Long Beach are headed to Columbus,
Ohio for the U.S. Youth Olympic Games Trials. On February 4
and 5, Deon Reid and Sydney Czaus will compete in this first leg in
a journey to the Youth Olympic Games.
Several years in
the making, this is the first year of the Youth Olympics. The
diving competition is only open to athletes born in 1993 and 1994
who compete at the national level. Five thousand athletes from
205 countries are expected in Singapore to compete in 26 sports
including diving.
McCormick Divers
Coach, Charly Collins, says this is an amazing opportunity for
Junior Divers to experience world level athletics. With the
tight age range and close qualifying scores of divers expected to
attend, he believes Reid and Czaus have a good chance receiving top
scores in Columbus. Most of the Youth Games Trial divers will
already be in Columbus for the USA Diving Winter Nationals.
Top finishers in
Columbus move on to the FINA qualifying event in Guadalajara, Mexico
in March. The competition has four main events on 3 meter
springboard and platform competition separated into boys and girls.
The top nine finishers in each event move on to Olympic style
competition in Singapore August 14-26, 2010.
Poly High School
Sophomore, Deon Reid is excited to attend the Youth Olympic Games
Trials. He expects to encounter tough competition from divers
he met at Diving Nationals over the past few years. Deon needs
to perform his personal best to move on to Guadalajara.
Los Alamitos
High School Junior, Sydney Czaus, has an excellent chance at moving
on to the next leg. She will be up against many of the same
competitors she has faced at the last USA Diving and AAU Nationals
where she finished second in the platform competition.
Both divers
train with McCormick Divers at the Belmont Plaza Pool. Head
coach Debby McCormick says “We are all very excited to have our
divers represent Long Beach and the United States on the world
scene.” Debby and Asst. Head Coach, Charly Collins, train
the divers six days a week with extra platform training every week
from Kim Berbari. All three are very familiar with
international competition and excited to help these excellent divers
move up to the international competition level.
Local Bixby
Knolls diver competing for spot at Youth Olympic Games
Bixby Knolls
resident Deon Reid (pictured) is in Columbus, Ohio this week,
competing as a diver for the U.S. Youth Olympic Games trials. Top
finishers there will travel to Guadalajara, Mexico in March for the
qualifying event administered by Fédération Internationale de
Natation– the organization recognized by the International Olympic
Committee for conducting international competitions in aquatic
sports... (more
after the jump)
A
couple MCD divers get a glimpse at their high school outlook for the
new season: Los Al dive team expects
best season ever in 2010 By Jessica
Pollack (as posted on
sunnews.org)
Los Alamitos
High School Divers are gearing up for what Coach Shane Butler
expects to be the team’s best season ever in 2010. Los Al
Junior, Sydney Czaus led the Sunset League in 2009 finishing third
among the girls at CIF Southern Section Masters Championships.
The Los Al Varsity Boys easily won the CIF Sunset League title in
2009. All members of the champion boys’ team, except one
2009 graduate, are returning when the season officially starts in
February.
The Sunset League Champion Boys are led by...(Read
more here after the jump)
Asia
Pacific Rim
Junior Diving Invitational
December 16-18, 2009
.
McCormick
Divers were invited to compete in
Wellington
,
New Zealand
in December, 2009. Four
of our team members and their families were able to attend and make
a family vacation out of the opportunity. Adam
Springer, Erica Curry, Clark Pitti and Paulina Guzman competed at
the
Wellington
Regional
Aquatic
Center
just before Christmas.
We all met at
LAX Dec 12 and arrived in
New Zealand
after traveling for over 21 hours on December 14!
We found the hotel, unpacked our bags and headed right over
to the pool! Each of the
kids bounced the boards and did some diving, met a lot of new people
and Debby met with some of her old friends from years’ past.
All of the
officials and athletes stayed in the same hotel and ate breakfast
lunch and dinner together in one room.
The food was outstanding and satisfied every palate.
Most of the kids
managed to find a synchro partner from another country.
What a nice way to meet new friends.
They had “knock off rounds” which was a new experience
for our kids. Once the
results were in, the top 6 did a dive off and were eliminated round
by round. They could
play it safe and put in their best dives first in order to stay in
through the end. All of
the kids got plenty of diving in!
Clark
surprised himself and came home with 3 bronze medals.
Erica and Adam worked really hard and made lots of
corrections. Adam won an
award at the Award’s banquet for filling his form out wrong!
Paulina really
shined on this trip. She
and I were both interviewed and on the New Zealand News.
It is the best she has competed in some time.
She was really steady and finished 2nd to the
Chinese gal in both 1 & 3 meters.
I got a lot of positive comments on her diving.
After the meet
the kids and parents took off to go bungee jumping and “zip
lining”. I am sure
they will be proud to show off those photos!
They also had a chance to see some of the most beautiful
countryside anywhere in the world.
This was an
invaluable experience for everyone and hopefully it will motivate
them to train hard to insure future trips like this one.
Impromptu
USDiving Social Re-Connects Diving Alumni
A
Divers Social was held at BJ’s restaurant in
Huntington Beach
, on Monday December 7. The
purpose of the event was to bring together alumni and diving
coaches. Debbie Hesse,
CEO of US Diving and Steve Foley, High Performance Director of US
Diving spoke to the group about their 4 year plan for our sport.
Debby
and Frank Gorman combined efforts to reach out to as many diving
coaches and supporters to make the event a success.
40 people “weathered” the stormy day and freeway traffic!
It was a wonderful turn out.
Dr.
Sammy Lee, Roz Lee, Debbie
Hesse, Steve Foley, Debby McCormick, Patty Simms Whiles, Frank
Gorman, Felix Grossman, Fred Fox, Ray Vincent, Chris Boyd,
Andy Kwan, Amy Kwan, Steve Eberle, Kevin McMahon, Jennifer and
Grant Lappe, Cole Young, Charly Collins, Brian Early, Craig
Lincoln, Curt Wilson, Derek Starks, Dave Cotton, Marnie Young,
Joe Gerlach, Kathy and Marc Dumais, Tony Cacciapaglia, Larry
Brennan, Kim Stanfield Berberi, Bill Gardner and Nancy Brunet
Janik were in attendance.
Diving Legend
Sammy Lee Visits Local Divers
By Jessica Pollack (As posted in www.hbnews.us/feature.html)
89-year-old
Dr. Sammy Lee of Huntington Beach is a legend in the Platform diving
world. Ten meter platform Olympic gold medal winner in London
in 1948 and in Helsinki in 1952, Sammy Lee went on to become a
respected doctor and a mentor and coach for some of diving’s elite
including Greg Louganis and Huntington Beach Resident, Debby
McCormick who continues as head coach of McCormick Divers.
This weekend, Dr. Lee came to Belmont Plaza Pool
in Long Beach to watch the Platform Competition at the Glenn
McCormick Memorial Dive Meet. Dr. Lee has been a great
supporter of the team since it started. Debby McCormick
continues the great work Glenn started coaching and mentoring young
divers from Orange County and Long Beach. This year she and
coaches Charly Collins, Kim Berbari, and Assistant Coaches Jackie
Jones and Cole Young coach some exciting new Orange County Divers.
15-year-old Amy Losciavo and her 12-year-old
brother, Brandon both won their events this first year diving.
Fellow HB resident 13-year-old Clark Pitti used this meet to prepare
for 2010 when he has to move up to the next age group. Clark
competed in his first diving Nationals this summer competing in the
13&under competition in Georgia this summer. Orange County
also boasts 15-year-old Erica Curry who competes for Fountain Valley
High School in the spring and some new Novice Divers including
Jacqui Cleugh from Huntington Beach who competed in the 9&under
girls.
The Glenn McCormick Memorial Dive Meet attracts
divers from all over Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon,
New Mexico and Texas. This great turn-out for a club meet in
such difficult financial times is testament to how well respected
Debby and McCormick Divers are in the diving world. Also
notable is the amount of community support. While ad sales for
the program and cash donations are down from previous years, the
team has received great door prize, food and merchandise donations
from local businesses. These divers are grateful to local
businesses like Universal Care Medical Group, Diets by Design, CAS-Competitive
Aquatic Sports, Tru-West, Orthopedic and Spinal Care, and Dr. Ben
Rubin for their generous support.
Athletes looking to try diving and local
businesses interested in being part of local divers’ success are
encouraged to contact McCormick Divers at McCormickdiver@aol.com
or 714-642-0317. McCormick Divers Booster Club is a registered 501c
(3) charity.
Former
McCormick Diver Gets Once in a Lifetime Opportunity
Chris
Beck is a former Master's Diver for McCormick Divers. He is an
Opera singer, teacher and star. Chris always sings the
National Anthem (like no other) at every one of our events. He
teaches at Cal State Fullerton and has been contacted by the
New Your Metropolitan. He will sing for them on
December 17th. He is very excited about this! And we are
excited for him. Whether they offer him a contract or not,
a chance to sing for the Metropolitan Opera is a less than
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Way to go Chris!!
Diving
Legend Sammy Lee Visits Local Divers
Dr.
Sammy Lee is a legend in the Platform diving world. The
89-year-old was the ten meter platform Olympic gold medal winner in
London in 1948 and in Helsinki in 1952. He went on to
become a respected doctor and a mentor and coach for some of
diving’s elite including Greg Louganis and Glenn McCormick who
went on to start McCormick Divers. This weekend, Dr. Lee came
to Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach to watch the Platform
Competition at the Glenn McCormick Memorial Dive Meet. Dr, Lee has
been a great supporter of the team over the years. McCormick
Divers has called Belmont Plaza Pool home since it was built in
1968. Debby McCormick continues the great work Glenn started
coaching...(Read
more here from LBPost.com)
Huntington
Beach Independent: Briefly in Sports
Just a short
while ago, four Huntington Beach Divers were competitive gymnasts.
Now they are preparing for the annual dive meet at their home pool,
Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, starting Friday.
(Read
more here)
Glenn
McCormick Memorial Meet a HUGE Success!!!
Many thanks to
all the parents and divers that helped in organizing this years
GMMDI which was the biggest meet year-to-date! We had a few new
teams from Nevada and Arizona which pushed our diver count to over
275 and over 525 entries!!! Thank you all for your hard work,
dedication and long hours for a very successful invitational.
Here's to looking forward to next year!!!
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