A dinner among friends Monday night in Canton doubled as a meeting of who's who when it comes to Ohio high school diving .
New Albany senior Hamish Patel, an Ohio State signee and last year's Division I state runner-up, joined several club teammates from ACES Diving, including freshmen Jackson Monus of Bexley and Andrew Keir of Westerville South, to swap experiences and advice and simply hang out not only as friends, but high school state meet qualifiers .
Less than 24 hours later, Monus ended up atop the podium, controlling the Division II meet at Branin Natatorium to win his school's first diving championship.
Monus led throughout but pulled away with a strong finish to score 483.05 points, outdistancing runner-up Charles Vatolin of Bay Village Bay (419.85).
"I just tried to keep as calm as possible and just focus on every dive at a time not the scores during the meet," Monus said. "Just to keep my mind right, I guess."
Patel again finished as Division I runner-up later Tuesday, scoring 545.45 points but coming up 46.3 short of four-time champion Dominic Roberto of Solon, who will be Patel's roommate at OSU in the fall.
Keir placed eighth (482).
Monus steadily built his lead, from 22.9 points after five rounds – when the field was trimmed from the initial 32 competitors to 20 – to as much as 53.45 after eight rounds, at the second and final cut to 16.
His highest-scoring dive was a reverse 1½ in the eighth round for 51.25 points.
Monus closed with a reverse 2½ tuck, scoring 48.
"My last dive was definitely the hardest," Monus said.
Before Tuesday, Bexley's best state finishes came from Mike Motter, who was runner-up in 1970 and 1971 and sixth in 1969.
Central Ohio was seeking its first sweep of the boys diving championships since 2020, when New Albany's Noah Duperre won Division I and Wellington's George Callanan took first in Division II.
Patel led Roberto 305.05-304 through six rounds but lost balance on the board in the seventh during a reverse dive.
He rebounded with the day's highest-scoring dive, scoring 70.5 on a reverse 2½, but Roberto locked up the title by averaging 62 points on his final three dives.
"I think (the slip) needed to happen because it gave me a push of motivation for the rest of the competition to really lock in," Patel said. "There are so many good competitors in Ohio, which makes the state meet so difficult. I just tried to focus on myself no matter how well everyone was diving. It just came down to every single dive being better than the next person. They kept me on my toes the whole way."
Among other central Ohio competitors in Division I, Dublin Jerome sophomore Mason Sargel made both cuts and placed 15th (418).
Whetstone freshman Mac Plank was 19th (280.05), followed by Watkins Memorial freshman Brezlin Harris (21st, 174.9), Mount Vernon sophomore Collin McFarlane (24th, 172.3), Gahanna Lincoln freshman Dylan Sponseller (25th, 171.75) and Dublin Coffman junior Ben Edwardson (28th, 162.95).
In Division II, Centennial sophomore Daniel Barnes was 26th (117.5) and Watterson freshman Kevin Feehan was 31st (94.8).
All but Edwardson and Sargel were making their first state appearances.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bexley's Jackson Monus wins OHSAA Division II boys diving title
