Shamokin Area junior Tyler Moroskie is the top-seeded boys diver for Saturday's District 4 diving championships at the Bloomsburg Middle School, and is one of several Shamokin Area divers who will compete for a chance to advance to the state championships.
Moroskie recently won the Pennsylvania Heartland Conference title, breaking a 14-year-old pool record at Williamsport Area High School with a score of 396.45 points. Jon Vanaskie was third at that meet (337.85) and Ciana Rollman was fourth in the girls competition (289.85).
Diving coach Rich Kashnoski, in his first season at the helm, has one of the larger contingents of any area team, with 11 divers, eight of whom competed at the Heartland meet. He hopes the Heartland meet success, in which Shamokin scored highest as a team, continues at the district meet.
Mike Rodarmel and Jason Scheffer will also be competing in the boys competition with Moroski and Vanaskie, while Erin Duganitz and Alaina Petrovich will join Rollman in the girls competition.
Kashnoski, who dove for Shamokin and later at Clarion University, said he looks for "someone who's willing to take risks" when he looks for divers.
"There's a certain amount of danger involved; you can hit the board," Kashnoski said. "On a good dive, you're hitting the water at about 16 miles an hour. That water doesn't feel too good if you don't hit it right."
And like almost any other skill, repetition is key. The divers do many kinds of physical workout - strength training, calisthenics, swimming laps, trampoline work - but the most important thing is to get on the diving board as much as possible.
Kashnoski stressed that it's not necessary for competitive divers to do the toughest dives.
"You have to the consistency to do the basic dives well, then you add on," he said. "All of our kids started with the basics, and now all of them can do doubles (double somersaults). Tyler's a prime example. He has worked up to triples and now has worked some twists in as well for higher scores."
This district meet is a big one for Shamokin, because it can be the next step for the program.
"If we can get some kids to make it to states, that will be a whole new level for us," said Kashnoski.
Even so, the Indians have made some coaches around the Heartland Conference jealous, because of the number of divers they have.
"Sue Hoffman (former swim coach) and Connie (current coach Connie Boyer) have both put forth a lot of effort in going out and getting kids to come out," Kashnoski said. "I came on this year and I really want to build our program. It takes a lot of dedication, and right now we have a group of kids who are willing to put lots of hard work in."
The boys championship will be at 10 a.m., and the girls championship at 1:35 p.m.