Riley McCormick concludes junior career with tower victory

July 9th, 2009

Riley McCormick

VICTORIA- Olympic team member Riley McCormick of Victoria ended a successful junior career on Thursday at his home pool with a victory on the men’s 10-metre tower at the 2009 Speedo Junior National Diving Championships.

McCormick, 18, totalled 581.95 points which broke the previous Canadian record of 537.75 set by Bertrand Blier in 2006. Shane Miszkiel of Victoria was second at 477.70 and Austin Mix of London, Ont., third at 448.85.

‘’I couldn’t ask for a better finish to this chapter in my career,’’ said McCormick, who is leaving Saturday for Rome to compete for the third time at the world aquatic championships. ‘’The crowd was amazing. I don’t think I ever heard it as loud. It’s a great confidence builder for the worlds.”

At the junior level, McCormick competed at two world juniors and two junior Pan Ams. He first emerged on the national scene at age 10 when he competed at the 2001 Canada Games. The previous year he earned his first of many national age group titles.

On women’s three-metre, Pamela Ware of Montreal took the title with a personal best 522.85. Hailey Casper of Calgary was second at 503.15 and Carol-Ann Ware of Montreal third at 496.90.

‘’I was sharper on every dive and that’s what made the difference,” said Ware, who earned a spot on her fourth career Junior Pan Am Championship team with the win.

Other winners Thursday in women’s competition were Myriam Selmani of Montreal on one-metre for the 14-15 age group and Emily Schmidt of Calgary in the 11 and under one-metre.

On the men’s side other winners were Aidan Faminoff of Victoria in the 11 and under three-metre and Philippe Gagné of Montreal in the 12-13 platform,

Gagné was competing for the first time from the 7.5 metre platform.

‘’It was a big adjustment to change heights,’’ said Gagné 11, savouring his third career age group title. ‘’That’s what I was most nervous about. My first four dives were really good but I think I could have done my last three dives a bit better.’’

Full results at http://www.integratedsports.net/diving/live/schedule.aspx

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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