Community Corner

Wilmette, Kenilworth Diver Advances to National Meet

Divers from Wilmette, Kenilworth and Winnetka teamed together to finish third in the USA Diving Junior Olympic Zone Championship.

Information provided by The Chicago Dive Club.

Not all the diving this year will take place at the London Olympics.

The Chicago Dive Club (CDC), led by state champion Jordan Sacks (Wilmette) and fellow high school divers Michael Nash (Kenilworth), Caroline Grant (Kenilworth), Juliette Corboy (Winnetka) and Ryan Nash (Kenilworth), recently teamed together to finish third in the USA Diving Junior Olympic Zone Championship at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis. 

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Sacks won the Men’s Senior Open one-meter championship and moves on to the USA Diving National Preliminary Zone Championship in Pittsburgh on July 19-21. Michael Nash scored well enough in both the one-meter and three-meter springboard events to qualify for the Boys 16-18 category at Nationals. In the Girls 16-18 competition, Corboy’s performance in the one- and three-meter springboard events earned her a spot at Nationals. 

Chicago Dive’s success was not limited to the older divisions.

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In the Boys 12-13 division, Christopher Canning, Jr. (Wilmette) swept the one- and three-meter springboards as well as the platform competition and moves on to Nationals. In the Boys 11 and under division, Trevor Nelson (Evanston) won all three events, and Henry Goodman (Evanston) also qualified for Greensboro in each event. In the 11 and under girls’ division, Jessie Creed (Winnetka) and Lucy Hogan (Evanston) each qualified for Nationals in the three events with strong showings. 

Other divers who competed for Chicago Dive Club in the Zone Championship included Maxim Royzen (Skokie), Harel Anolick (Evanston) and Sophie Pribus (Riverwoods). 

“I’m extremely proud of our team’s accomplishments, which were the result of their hard work and dedication," Coach Alik Sarkisian said. "We were competing against some of the country’s most skilled divers, and our team members faced the added challenge of having no aquatic facility in Illinois with 7 and 10 meter platforms. Our divers who qualified for Nationals will face an additional challenge, as our facility – with the state’s only five-meter platform – closes this week for the rest of the summer for renovations. Our hope is that the program’s continued success, along with the success of the USA Olympic Team, will bring more participants to our great sport.” 

In all, the competition featured 164 divers from seven states and 17 different teams. 

Chicago Dive Club is coached by Sarkisian, Northwestern University’s men’s and women’s head Diving Coach, and assisted by former New Trier All-American Patrick Noyes. Sarkisian, who has served as a judge at the USA Diving Olympic Trials, began his career as the USSR National Team Coach in 1980 and later served as National Team Coach in Armenia. In 1996, he was Armenia’s National Team Coach at the 

1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He was selected to serve as the USA National Team Coach for the 2003 and 2005 Pan-Am Games. 

The Chicago Dive Club is an AAU and USA Diving registered Club, located in Evanston, Ill. Members of the club train at Northwestern University’s Norris Sports Aquatic Center. The facility has two one-meter and two three-meter springboards on platform stands, as well as a one-, three-, and five-meter platform. Participants in the program, ages 8 to 18, receive instruction on dry land to help build strength and increase coordination, in addition to learning a full list of dives on the springboards and platforms. 

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