One diver put together a courageous performance, another put together a fearless one. The Jefferson District boys dive competition may have been short on competitors with just three athletes taking the board, but it was packed with storylines.
For starters, in third place, Fluvanna County’s Bryce Campanelli put together a heroic performance, competing just three days after a harrowing accident where the freshman, in succession, smashed his right hand, his shoulder and the back of his head on the board on a dive attempt during practice. His hand was still swollen significantly Friday night when it raised triumphantly from the pool after he nailed his final dive of the competition, the same reverse 1.5 he’d smashed his head while attempting on Tuesday. The slight fist pump capped a solid run that earned Campanelli, who had already qualified for the state meet before Friday’s outing, a third place finish.
“I was so nervous coming up to the 11th dive but the first one was probably the hardest,” Campanelli said. “It slowly got better, but before the 11th you’re thinking, oh my goodness, I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
And while Campanelli braved and overcame a new set of fears instilled by the accident, Orange County’s Brandon Twigg won the JD championship almost entirely on fearlessness.
“(I’ve got) no fear really, not in the water at least — sharks maybe,” Twigg joked.
Twigg won the title in his first ever diving meet, based on knowledge gained from three diving practices and experience doing backflips from the time he got a trampoline as a kid. He approached the coaches during a preseason meeting about becoming a diver, so Orange went to work finding someone to coach him on the discipline. Before they located former Orange County diver Robert Edwards to tutor the Hornets’ newest diver though, Twigg, who plays baseball for Orange, sprained his ankle. The ankle finally healed recently, giving him three practices to master his form and put 11 dives in his repertoire.
He delivered, posting a title-winning effort and a state-meet qualifying total score.
Second place went to Devon Stribling, who was the first to reach the stunned, bleeding Campanelli in the pool at practice. Stribling has been a big part of Fluvanna’s recent efforts to build a larger, deeper dive team, helping build the squad that started as just him and senior Sarah Bomberger when he was a freshman. While not everyone was able to take the board Friday, the Flucos could have the largest Jefferson District representation at the Region II meet with several state qualifiers among the boys and girls squads.
“My sophomore year it was only me,” Stribling said. “So with everyone out here now it’s just a really great camaraderie.”
On the girls side, Katie Shepherd continued a pretty incredible freshman season for Western Albemarle, grabbing a Jefferson District championship with a score of 320.5. Shepherd, who has an extensive gymnastics background, has exploded this year in her first season on the board, including a second place finish at the Ben Hair Memorial earlier in the year and a 10th place finish in a recent meet where the field combined private and public schools from across the state and all classifications. Shepherd bested a number of Group AAA divers in that event.
William Monroe’s Sarah Nave posted a runner-up performance to grab points for the Dragons and the Warriors’ Hannah Chiarella checked in at third with a score of 279.8, another state qualifying mark.
Final results
Boys
Brandon Twigg, Orange 283.15
Devon Stribling, Fluvanna 279.8
Bryce Campenelli, Fluvanna 259.2
Girls
Katie Shepherd, Western 320.5
Sarah Nave, William Monroe 293.55
Hannah Chiarella, Western 279.8
Molly Folger, Charlottesville 273.7
Kelsey Parshall, Louisa 231.5
Kelsey Schein, Fluvanna 206.55
