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New Albany freshman Sammy Petroff wins OHSAA diving state title
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- New Albany freshman Sammy Petroff wins OHSAA diving state title
The best Division I state meet for central Ohio girls divers in a decade was the talk of Branin Natatorium in Canton on Feb. 25, but the favorite and eventual champion did her best to compartmentalize and block out any distractions.
"All of us were just thinking one at a time and whatever happens, move on," New Albany freshman Sammy Petroff said. "I expected the top three to be really close. … I didn't think about being the favorite. I just thought about my dives and not how the others were doing and not how the scoring went."
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On a day that saw the top five finishers and six of the top seven come from central Ohio, Petroff stood alone at the top, leading virtually from start to finish and amassing 480.45 points to bring the area its first girls championship since Olentangy Liberty's Olivia Lynch in 2020.
New Albany's Sammy Petroff won the Division I diving state championship Feb. 25 at Branin Natatorium in Canton.
A 51.6-point effort on a reverse 1½ pike in the ninth round was Petroff's high-water mark, and it capped a three-round run that saw her expand her lead from 7.65 points to 25.9.
"I kind of just went up on the board and said whatever happens, move on to the next," said Petroff, who was the top seed and the only diver to exceed 500 points in district competition. "But I hit that dive and it felt really good."
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Big Walnut junior Sarah White was second (463.9), immediately ahead of Upper Arlington junior Mira Wiegman (453.65), UA senior Madison Vermilion (439.3) and Liberty senior Abby Foskey (439.25).
Wiegman has committed to Princeton. Vermilion and Foskey have signed with Penn State and West Virginia, respectively.
Boys diving: Bexley's Jackson Monus wins third straight Division II state title
This was the first state meet since 2016 that saw the top five placers all come from central Ohio. New Albany's Nikki Watters won state that year and was the Eagles' last girls champion until Feb. 25.
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"I don't know how much [Petroff] even paid attention to the scores; she was just going one dive at a time and staying relaxed," New Albany coach John Coffman said. "That is somewhat just her, but I think that's also the hallmark of high performers. They can compartmentalize and shift gears if they need to."
Big Walnut diver Sarah White finished second in the Division I state meet Feb. 25 at Branin Natatorium in Canton.
Olentangy junior and Duke commit Evelyn Fitz also reached the podium, placing seventh (432.9).
Wiegman scored 48.3, 48.9 and 46.25 on three consecutive dives from the eighth to 10th rounds to charge into second place and get within 21.05 points of Petroff. But White finished with a front double pike for 49.45 points to reclaim second, one spot better than a year ago.
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Local competitors combined for 18 dives of 40 or more points in the final five rounds.
"We have so many good divers, just neck and neck all the time, and we ended up where we wanted," White said. "I was just really consistent. I didn't have a big miss on anything."
Gahanna Lincoln senior and Bowling Green signee Kennedy Mignogno finished 12th (402.35).
Olentangy senior Danielle Kourie was 16th (381.45) and New Albany junior Marley Johnson placed 17th (281.4).
"The best part as a coach being there was they really seemed relaxed," said Jen White, Sarah's mother who also coached the Olentangy district divers. "They were making fun of how nervous the parents were. That part was entertaining."
Grandview Heights junior Maura Yates finished fourth in the Division II state meet Feb. 25 at Branin Natatorium in Canton, her best placement in three appearances at the meet.
Grandview Heights' Yates finishes fourth in Division II
Grandview junior Maura Yates overcame a cold that hampered her preparation and finished fast, improving from sixth place halfway through the meet to as high as third before ultimately placing fourth (384.4) for her first podium finish.
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Yates' back dive and back 1½ led her to 34.6 points in the seventh round and 38 in the eighth.
"She had a bad cold [Feb. 24] and did not want to be on the boards, but [Feb. 25] she felt a little bit better," said Clay White, Grandview's diving coach and a former Ohio State competitor. "She was able to get warm and really focus on her dives once she warmed up.
"She was pretty consistent. She hit all of her dives. I was very impressed by her district meet [in which she finished first], but she was even better here."
Yates was 14th at state last year and 19th as a freshman.
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Northwest Ohio divers took the top three spots. Wauseon's Kali Spengler won (442.1), followed closely by Liberty Center's Joy Brown (421.6) and Kelsey Schmitz from Ottawa-Glandorf (390.95).
Columbus School for Girls senior Delaney Woods also made the final round, placing 16th (282.8) in her fourth and final state meet.
Grandview's Isla Swisher was 20th (212.6), followed by Bexley's Charlotte Langolf (23rd, 132.2) and Wellington's Dorothy Blackburn (25th, 129.5). All are sophomores.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New Albany's Sammy Petroff wins OHSAA Division I state diving title
