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Boys' swimming Athlete of the Year: Diving ahead
Written By: SCOTT DUNCAN - TheStarPress.com
sduncan@muncie.gannett.com
Kurt Barttrum's diving career got off to an inauspicious start. The first time he joined the diving team, he was disappointed by what he saw at the pool.
Instead of learning to use scuba equipment, the Yorktown junior, then in middle school, found he had signed up to jump off of a springboard.
But once the confusion was cleared, Barttrum displayed a natural ability on the board. Since then he has been dedicated to the sport of diving, developing into a state champion.
"From the moment he started doing flips on the board the first time he dove, I knew he had the talent," Yorktown diving coach Shanan Riegle said. "I knew from then that this was the kind of diving that he should be doing."
Barttrum won the school's first diving state title this winter. He is the athlete of the year in boys' swimming and diving, as selected by The Star Press.
In the state meet, he took first with a score of 426.50, holding off the second-place finisher by 6.3 points.
Barttrum was the only Yorktown diver or swimmer to advance to the finals in any event.
"After the preliminaries, I was surprised I was the only one in the finals," Barttrum said. "So I figured I might as well win it."
The junior saved his strongest dives of the season for the state meet.
Riegle said his confidence in the state meet was most impressive.
"He wasn't overconfident, but he knew he could do it," Riegle said. "He was more focused than I had ever seen him. I think he was less nervous than all of us watching."
Despite how he may have appeared on the board, Barttrum said his confidence did not peak until he took first place at the state meet.
"You are always thinking that someone is better than you, it's a way to force yourself to work harder to beat them," Barttrum said. "So to finally win feels really great."
Yorktown, which has been the strongest swimming and diving team in the area in recent years, often had been recognized for its swimmers.
But Barttrum changed that this season and made the "and diving" mean something for the Tigers.
"As divers, we always get a little upset when people forget that diving is involved in this too," Barttrum said.
Barttrum, who practices six days a week for five hours at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI, won the state title in one meter, the only height event sanctioned by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
His best is the three meter, an event he won in the Junior Olympics spring regional championships two weeks ago.
Barttrum plans to dive in college. He said he hopes to go somewhere warm, California or Hawaii. He said the Olympics remain a goal, even though he realizes it's a tough goal to attain.
He dives for the Starz Diving Club, which is based out of IUPUI. Divers that have come through the Starz system have won national championships and have participated in Olympic trials.
"He has some big opportunities," Riegle said. "He has the right coaches and the right things going on down in Indianapolis. The Olympics are out there, not super far-fetched."
Posted 3-19-07 |
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