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Dent Cruises To Diving Title

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A Tribune staff report

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 8, 2008

FORT MYERS - A summer's worth of training in China seems to have paid off for Berkeley Prep diver Kyle Dent.

The senior ran away with the diving title at the Class A-Region 3 swimming and diving meet at the Florida Gulf Coast University aquatics center Friday. Dent scored 529.85 points, finishing 75 points ahead of his nearest competitor, Shorecrest Prep's Jack Stein. Dent also placed seventh in the 50-yard freestyle.

"I practice from about 4 to 5:30 every day for diving, then I'm in the pool working on my sprints, and that's really all I do," Dent said.

"Last year I placed eighth at states when I was ranked fourth, so that was disappointing. This year I've put a lot into it. I think I'm ranked first going into state, and I'm hoping to stay there."

The Berkeley Prep boys finished fourth in the team standings, 37 points behind region champion Fort Myers Bishop Verot (239). Jesuit's boys finished a close second with 236 points. In the girls division, Bishop Verot also won with 322 points, while Northside Christian took second with 230.

This is the first time since the inception of the regional meet four years ago that the Jesuit boys didn't win the title.

"I've got about 15 points sitting at home," Jesuit coach Bill Shaffer said. "I have a swimmer who's sick, and it's killing me that he couldn't be here for his teammates."

Vinny Donnelly led Jesuit with second-place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle. He also anchored the second-place 200 free relay.

The winner of each regional event is guaranteed a trip to the Class 2A state meet in Orlando on Friday. The top seven other finishers will be pooled with the other three regions, and the top 20 overall will qualify for state.

Other individual champions included Tampa Prep's Grace Fredlake (200 IM), Northside Christian's Jaki St. Louis (100 breast) and St. Pete Catholic's Kelsey Krauss (100 butterfly).

Tampa Prep's Kaliya Burton-Akright won the girls diving title with a score of 432.45. Cameron Martin of Clearwater Central Catholic took home titles in two events, the 100 fly and the 100 back.

Annabelle Tometich

Gators Boys Win 1st Region Title

FORT PIERCE - Of the two Land O' Lakes swim coaches, Barbara Hayes is usually the level-headed one while Robin Hilgenberg is the excitable one.

Not Friday night at the Indian River State College pool. They both ran around the deck like young children.

After the Gators boys 400 freestyle relay team won the final event of the evening, both coaches knew what had happened and what was going to happen.

They were going to get wet.

Behind the performances of Eric Singer, Derrick Mysels, Sean Lawson and Curt Hilgenberg in that relay, the Land O' Lakes boys won their first region title, beating Harmony 237 to 229.5.

"For once, I'm not prepared," a soaking-wet Hayes said. "I didn't bring a change of clothes. The boys didn't know, but I did, that we were only seeded third based on district times and there was a significant gap we had to make up."

The first time the team scores were announced, following the 200 freestyle relay, the Gators were in second place, four points behind Satellite, who finished third. The announcement seemed to fire up the Gators.

"That's definitely what freaked us out," Curt Hilgenberg said. "One of the kids that's in International Baccalaureate was telling us what has to happen. I looked at Sean and said 'you're right.' Then everyone tried to figure out the points and I said 'Guys, to make it easy, just win.'"

In the next event after the announcement, Curt Hilgenberg was seeded sixth in the 100 backstroke but finished fourth, and Patrick Gray was seeded 14th and finished 13th. In the 100 breaststroke, Arthur Mapugay was seeded 11th and finished 10th while Igor Passioura was seeded 14th and finished 13th.

Those increases allowed the Gators to move closer to Satellite and stay ahead of Harmony. Heading into the final event, Satellite led 211-197 but didn't have a 400 free relay in the finals.

With only 1.5 points separating the two teams, the Gators had to finish ahead of Harmony to claim the title.

"This is really exciting," Robin Hilgenberg said. "These boys are so cool, and we're going to miss them the seniors so much. We just wanted them to go out with a bang."

Sunlake's Brad Morrison was the only other individual winner, as he defended his 100 backstroke region title. The only other automatic state qualifier was Land O' Lakes' Cody Kuhl, who finished second in the diving.

In the girls events, there were no local winners, but Alex Pierovich of Land O' Lakes placed second in the 200 individual medley and Lindsay Gorgen of Zephyrhills was third in the 100 breaststroke and should advance. The state qualifiers will be announced by the FHSAA on Sunday.

Rick Harmon

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