Nicholson’s strength in sprints helped his diving
Kennedy senior Sam Nicholson became the latest Bloomington (Kennedy or Jefferson) diver to compete at the state meet two weeks ago.
He placed 17th scoring 190.45 points among the 23 divers in his state meet debut.
The route to the state one-meter springboard at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center wasn’t as linear as a typical state qualifier
Nicholson qualified for state after finishing third at the Section 2A meet with a 245.45 as most state divers came in with scores above 300.
“Sam dove so well,” Kennedy coach Todd Walsh said. “Considering the magnitude of being at the state meet for the first time, on the big stage and having only about 13 practices to prepare. It’s a remarkable story.”
The Eagles’ senior started the season as the team’s top sprinter on the team but realized his path to state was better on the diving board than in the pool.
A back injury to classmate and Kennedy’s top diver Sam Gardner dashed his hopes of state but opened the opportunity up for Nicholson.
It wasn’t until after a 96-74 win over Fridley on Senior Night, Feb. 6 that Gardner’s news of his season ending.
“Near the end of the season when it became obvious Section 2A was lacking divers, Sam [Nicholson] came to me to talk about coming out of the 100 freestyle where he was looking at fifth place finish [in favor of diving], scoring more points for the team,” Kennedy coach Todd Walsh said. “Then after Senior Night, we realized there was going to be only four divers at sections.”
Nicholson returned to the board to compete for the first time since his freshman season.
Diving with Kennedy in eighth and ninth grade, Nicholson made the switch to exclusively swim as a sophomore until midway through this season.
“He honestly had about 10 practices to get back into diving shape while still training for swimming,” Walsh said. “Previously he could not get the reverse dives so he really needed to set his mind to it to accomplish getting all 11 dives [scoring points]. He had to get one out of two reverse dives in the water without failing to qualify. If he failed both he would have been disqualified. Turns out he got all 11 dives in the water. I’m really proud of him for accomplishing this and stepping up for the team to fill a spot that would prove to be better for the team in the points column.”
Looking back at the section times, Nicholson would’ve been a borderline section finalist (top 8) in the 100-yard freestyle. Walsh estimated he would have finished somewhere between ninth and 13th place.
After sections, Walsh said Nicholson worked with dives coach Braden Fraser extensively to work on new dives, “doing their best to increase the degree of difficulty trying to get him into the top 16,” Walsh said. “His score was lower than everyone else going into the meet so he really moved up from 23rd to 17th.
Between sections and state, Walsh said Nicholson and Fraser had about three practices to refine dives.
At state, Nicholson’s top dive a 14.50 point back somersault came on the next to last dive of semifinals.
Follow Jason Olson on Twitter @Jason0lson or @SunSportsJason.
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(Photo courtesy of Todd Walsh)
Kennedy senior Sam Nicholson placed third (245.45 points) at the Section 2A meet to advance to the state meet where he placed 17th among the 23 divers. Nicholson, the top sprinter all season, added diving to his events after losing classmate Sam Gardner to an injury with about 10 practices before sections.
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