Aurora Greenmen senior Colten McCrae and sophomore Zach Best’s second time competing in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II Northeast district meet turned out to be better than the first. McCrae earned his second consecutive Division II state diving bid when he won the Northeast District title by scoring a personal best 450.65 points and Best also captured his second consecutive state berth, taking ninth with a personal record of 295.55 points last Wednesday at Cleveland State University’s Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
“It means a lot. I feel like I worked hard and really prepared for the meet and I feel like I dove really well,” McCrae said. “It was just a fun meet and I feel like I dove really well, and I am glad about that.”
The Greenmen duo’s season will end after competing in the Division II State diving tournament on Tuesday at Canton McKinley’s C.T. Branin Natatorium.
McCrae and Best are two of the six competitors that the Greenmen are sending to the Division II state meet, joining the 400-freestyle relay and junior Cameron Good, who earned at-large bids in the 100-freestyle and the 100-backstroke.
McCrae was at the top of the leaderboard after the first round and never relinquished the lead. Although all eyes were on him, the Aurora senior said he felt at home competing at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium because he usually practices there with his club diving team, the American Flyers.
“I felt like with it being a board I practice on a lot and a pool I am comfortable in I had a lot of pressure off of me because I had a cushion,” he said.
According to McCrae, the dive that propelled him to his first career Division II district diving crown was his inward 1½ pike in the eighth round.
“I was glad how I did my inward 1½ pike because I really stood up and rode the board well.” He noted.
With a dominating performance, McCrae achieved a new personal record, less than a year after setting a personal record when he placed third in the Division II state meet last year.
McCrae said he was thrilled to set a personal record, but his priority was earning his second straight state berth and the addition of a personal record and diving title was a pleasant surprise. Although he will be competing in his final state meet, McCrae said he plans on continuing diving in college but remains undecided on which school to attend.
In addition to McCrae winning the title, Best also earned his second straight state bid by taking ninth place.
“I am happy to be heading back to Canton,” Best said. “I am glad it was not as much as a nailbiter as it was last year. It was a great meet and I am happy to be back.”
In last year’s Division II Northeast district meet, Best’s state berth hinged on his final dive, needing at least 22.0 points to qualify and he netted 24.0 points to make the cut.
This year, Best sat comfortably in the mix to advance to Canton after a strong first five rounds, when he sat in sixth place with 142.90 points.
Best fell to 10th place after the next three rounds because he arranged two of his next three dives to be backward dives, some of his most challenging ones.
“Those dives are just dives I am generally less comfortable on and score lower, but I did not fall behind too badly and was able to close it out well,” Best noted.
The Greenmen sophomore rebounded in the final three rounds to rise to ninth place with a personal record. Best said that his second dive, a double somersault and tuck with a degree of difficulty of 2.2 helped set the tone when he stuck the landing to score 39.00 points.
“There are sometimes where I will spot myself wrong and end up over and under and just tanking the dive but in the meet. I spotted it perfectly and rotated it fast and got high on the jump and hurdle and it was just a really solid dive in general,” Best said.
Having captured his second straight trip to the Division II state meet, Best said one of his biggest goals is to compete in all 11 rounds after being eliminated after the eighth round in last year’s meet.
“The competition is definitely very tough, and it will take some really solid execution on my part as well as some luck by getting some high scores,” Best said.
