Josh Sammons wins CIF diving championship
Ramona High School sophomore Josh Sammons won the CIF Division II boys diving championship May 21 at Mesa College while Ramona’s boys swim team set two school records during the CIF meet May 20 and May 22 at Coronado High School.
Sammons’ 241.25 points on six dives not only earned him the CIF championship in a field otherwise paced by second-place Nico Espinosa of St. Augustine, who scored 230 points, but also broke the CIF meet Division II record for six dives.
“He dove very well. He had some really difficult dives and he scored very high,” said Ramona coach Frank Yturralde.
Sammons won last year’s CIF Division II diving meet with 207.10 points. The CIF switched from an 11-dive to a six-dive format for the finals in 2007. Trevor Knorr of Valhalla held the previous CIF meet six-dive Division II record with 221.85 points.
“His dives are getting more difficult, and he’s doing them very, very well,” Yturralde said of Sammons. “Very proud of his accomplishments.”
Although Sammons’ win was the only individual championship for Ramona’s boys at the CIF meet and the Bulldogs finished ninth among Division II teams, two school records were set during the CIF preliminaries. The 200-yard medley relay team, which won a swimoff against Santana for the final berth in the championship race, twice set the school record May 20 while Alan Williams swam the 100-yard backstroke in school-record time during the preliminaries.
“It was very exciting,” Yturralde said.
The swimmers or relay teams with the six fastest times in each event during the preliminaries advance to the championship race during the CIF finals while those with the seventh through 12th times return for the consolation finals. Ramona had two relay teams and two individuals in championship races while two individuals swam in consolation competition.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Williams, James Oneto, Kari Gonter, and Collin Torsak set a school record in the preliminary race with a time of 1:43.47, breaking the 2009 school record of 1:43.88. Santana also swam the medley relay race in 1:43.47, forcing a swimoff between Ramona and Santana for the sixth-place position and entry into the championship race. During the swimoff the Bulldog quartet lowered the school record to 1:42.27 and beat the Sultans by approximately one second.
“They were determined,” Yturralde said. “Their goal was to make finals in that relay and the 200 free relay. That was their goal.”
The same four swimmers competed for Ramona in the 200-yard freestyle relay and qualified for the championship race. Torsak, Oneto, Williams, and Gonter were fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay finals with a time of 1:31.64.
“I’m very proud,” Yturralde said. “That was a tough race.”
The medley relay team posted a finals time of 1:42.58 to place sixth.
During the preliminary races Williams swam the 100-yard backstroke in 55.24 seconds, breaking the school record of 55.86 seconds he set at the Valley League meet May 15. Williams’ time of 55.34 seconds in the finals placed him fifth.
Williams also qualified for the consolation finals in the 200-yard freestyle, where his time of 1:49.14 gave him 11th place.
In the 50-yard freestyle Torsak had a time of 22.36 seconds in the preliminaries to qualify for the finals. His time of 22.43 seconds in the finals placed him fifth. In the 100-yard freestyle Torsak’s time of 49.77 seconds in the preliminaries gave him a lane in the consolation race, where his time of 49.98 seconds gave him ninth place.