Greenwood places third at CIF diving meet

Joseph Greenwood placed third among Division I boys and third overall among all boys at the CIF San Diego Section diving meet May 12 at Mesa College, which qualified him for the state meet held May 20 at Clovis West High School.

Greenwood, an Oasis High School junior who competes for Fallbrook High School under the CIF's Multi-School Teams Status policy which allows students attending certain schools to compete for specified other teams, totaled 269.90 points on his six dives. Each of the seven judges provides a score of up to 10 points for each dive. The two highest scores and the two lowest scores are discarded, and the three middle scores are added and then multiplied by the degree of difficulty to give the diver his score for that dive.

The boys from Division I and Division II combined with the top four scores earned the invitations to the state meet. Granite Hills senior Cody Dreesen and Patrick Henry junior Jack Macceca had secure leads for the top two scores after the first half of the meet while Greenwood, Christian High School sophomore Cole Owens, Poway senior Jon Rios Brady, and Granite Hills freshman Reece Robles battled for the final two state qualifying positions.

Greenwood's six dives were a reverse dive pike which has a 1.7 degree of difficulty, a forward 2 1/2 somersault tuck with a 2.4 degree of difficulty, a back 1 1/2 somersault half tuck with a 2.1 degree of difficulty, a back 1 1/2 somersault full tuck with a 2.0 degree of difficulty, an inward 1 1/2 pike with a 2.4 degree of difficulty, and a forward 1 1/2 somersault with a full twist which has a 2.2 degree of difficulty.

After the first three dives Greenwood was in fourth place with 123.60 points. Dreesen and Macceca held the top two positions while Robles was in third with 124.45 points.

Greenwood's fourth dive provided him with an additional 37.00 points. The 160.60-point subtotal allowed him to pass Robles, who had 159.45 points after that dive, but Brady ended the scoring session of his dive with 161.70 points to take over third place.

"That was the one dive that I knew I had to nail it," said Greenwood. "I actually thought I was going to hit the board on the dive, but it turned out to be good."

The judges gave Greenwood scores of 8.0, 7.5, 8.0, 6.5, 8.5, 8.0, and 8.0 for his fifth dive, which brought his subtotal to 218.20 points.

"It definitely felt like one of the best I've done," Greenwood said.

Greenwood had performed the inward 1 1/2 pike fewer than five times in competition prior to the CIF meet. "I feel like it's one of my prettiest dives," he said.

Robles struggled with his fifth dive and would enter his final attempt with 198.55 points. Brady remained in third with 219.30 points while the scores on Owens' dive gave him 215.15 points.

The rotation had Greenwood as the first of the four divers in contention for the final two spots.

"I knew I was close but I wasn't sure what they were," said Greenwood of the scores. "I just knew I had to nail the last dive to beat them."

Greenwood's final dive earned scores of 7.0, 7.5, 9.0, 8.5, 8.5, 8.0, and 7.5.

"I felt close to the board, but I knew I nailed it," said Greenwood. "I knew I was in the right place."

Greenwood previously had nine-point scores only two other times. "Happy to get that," he said.

Robles completed his pool activity with a final total score of 243.70 points that would give him sixth place overall and fifth for Division I. Brady ended the meet with 261.85 points, giving him fifth overall and fourth in Division I. Owens' six-dive score of 265.85 points gave him first place among Division II boys while moving him ahead of Brady for the fourth and final state qualifying position. Greenwood maintained third place overall.

"It shows the hard work and commitment that he made this year," said Fallbrook diving coach Sean Redmond of Greenwood's state-qualifying performance.

Dreesen won the meet with 334.75 points. Macceca accumulated 304.25 points.

In his first meet of 2016 Greenwood had a score which qualified him for last year's CIF meet, but the detection of a vertebrae fracture in his lower back ended his season early. Greenwood was not prevented from helping to coach the Fallbrook divers, so he remained with the team in that capacity.

Redmond and Terry Erard are Fallbrook's regular diving coaches, as well as the diving coaches for the Fallbrook Associated Swim Team on which Greenwood participated when he returned to the pool in June 2016.

"He worked very hard through thick and thin," said Erard of Greenwood. "We had a bad winter, and he still dove in the rain. That's the kind of commitment it takes."

Greenwood expressed his thanks to Redmond and Erard as well as to his parents, Robert and Tricia Greenwood, for his success.

Fallbrook senior Jake McKinnon placed 16th among Division I boys with a score of 158.70 points. Last year, McKinnon placed 17th with 159.70 points.

The graduation of Dreesen, who plans to serve his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints mission before diving in college, will make Macceca the only expected 2018 diver who finished ahead of Greenwood at this year's meet.

"It will be a good battle next year," said Redmond.