EMMAUS - Two Tamaqua divers competed in the District 11 Championships Saturday. Both took home medals and one will move on to compete in the state championship.

Fresh off her gold medal performance in the Schuylkill League diving championships, Tamaqua’s Mia Jones took on the best divers in District 11 Saturday at Emmaus High School in search of a spot in states.

While she fell short of gaining another gold medal, she did collect a silver and an opportunity to dive at Bucknell University next month in the PIAA championships.

Meanwhile, the Blue Raiders’ Vinny Valentine dove to a third-place finish in the boys meet Saturday.

Jones advances

Jones had to battle EPC champion Anna Petke of Bethlehem Catholic for district gold.

The two competed in last year’s district event with Petke taking silver and Jones finishing sixth. Petke got off to a fast start when she was awarded a score of 35.20 for her first dive - a back pike - while no other diver scored over the 30-point mark in the round.

Jones opened with a reverse somersault tuck for a score of 24.80, which left her tied for second with North Schuylkill’s Joyce Burian, who briefly went ahead of Jones in Round 2.

“I don’t focus on the other divers that are competing,” Jones said when asked about the level of competition and the battle of the two league champions. “I just try to focus on myself and worry about my dives, and hope for the best outcome.”

Jones nailed her third dive - a back somersault with a half twist - and moved ahead of Burian, hoping to chase down Petke. Unfortunately for Jones and the rest of the field, Petke was spot on throughout the six-dive event and continued to widen her lead.

Twice in the meet, Jones flirted with the 30-point mark. The first came on her second dive of the day - a back somersault - and the other came on her final dive - a forward one-and-a-half somersault pike. Both dives netted the senior diver scores of 29.75.

“I thought it went pretty well. I was able to complete all my dives and was happy with them. My forward one-and-a-half is my best dive and I was able to get a good score on that,” said Jones of her performance.

The PIAA allowed districts to shorten the usual 11-dive championship to a six-dive competition, which is what will be used next month at states. The change is a pilot program designed to address the problem of fewer divers competing in the sport by allowing divers to master a smaller number of dives.

In the past, many divers failed to meet the qualification level of having scored 12 points or more on each of the dives they would use in the championship. Now, instead of having to reach that level on 11 different dives, they only need to have met the threshold on six dives.

The reaction to the change has been mixed.

“I feel that it is a little easier because you can pick your best six dives and stick to those,” said Jones about the change. “With 11, you have a lot more that you need to perfect; it didn’t really matter to me.”

Last year, eight female divers qualified for districts in the Class 2A classification, and this season there were 11 competitors.

The girls PIAA diving championships will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at Bucknell University in Lewisburg.

Valentine earn bronze

Blue Raider sophomore Vinny Valentine might not be competing at Bucknell this year, but if he keeps progressing it could be a goal for the future.

A first-year diver, Valentine took third place Saturday with a score of 128.35. He finished behind champion JT Heinze or Central Catholic and Adam Klinger of Pottsville. Heinze’s score of 228.05 was well ahead of Klinger (134.4) and would have been good enough to take first place in Class 3A, where Parkland’s Ryan Beltrame grabbed gold with a score of 226.4.

Valentine, who has been swimming for years and decided to try diving for the first time this season, was pleased with his first district meet.

“I could have done better but I tried so that’s what matters,” he said. “My approaches were a little wonky. I should probably improve on those next year. My flips and everything, when I was in the air, I’m fine with that.”

Valentine decided to give diving a try to follow in the footsteps of older brother Dominic. In his first season he earned a Schuylkill League title and a district medal.

“I think he did awesome this year,” said Tamaqua diving coach Lisa Trubilla. “It’s his first year. He just learned how to dive.”

A late-season invitational at Emmaus helped Valentine get used to the environment for the district meet.

“That was my first bigger [meet],” he said. “It also helped me get used to these boards and being here, so that was good.”

With two more years of high school competition remaining, Valentine has a bright future in the sport.

“There’s still a lot of dives I can learn and a lot of dives I can improve,” he said. “Never really stop learning.”