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Ridenour nails down second place
Written By: By Eric Smith/The Lebanon Reporter
The Lebanon Reporter
Indianapolis — The state finals are the culmination of a season’s worth of hard work, but for Lebanon senior Rylan Ridenour it marked the end of an accomplished high school career.
In his third finals appearance, Saturday, he finished the state runner-up. His 481.80 points were second only to those of Crown Point senior Jimmy Page, who racked up 510.20 at the IUPUI Natatorium.
“Rylan dove the best I’ve ever seen him dive, for 11 dives,†Lebanon Diving Coach Sandy Dickerson said.
After taking second place in sectionals and regionals to Tyler Clingerman, Ridenour ended the day four places higher than the Plainfield junior, who finished with 453.55 points.
“I praise God for everything. Everything God’s done in my life from my high school career until now, I give God all the credit for that,†Ridenour said. “I know God has been diving for me in this whole meet, and through sectionals and regionals, and that’s what it was.â€
The meet began with the morning preliminaries, where Ridenour garnered the most points, at 218.05. He was neck-and-neck, however, with Page and Clingerman, the other two favorites to win state.
“(Ridenour) hit just about as good as he was going to hit today, and I was really pleased with how well he dove,†Lebanon Swimming Coach Mike Dollens said.
Ridenour maintained his lead well into the semifinal round, until Page nudged his way into first place on the eighth dive. As the tournament chopped off the bottom four divers, just 16 remained for the final round.
Page went in with a 349.00 to 341.75 advantage over the senior Tigershark diver. Meanwhile, Clingerman hung close at 333.15.
Over the final three dives, the top divers would only separate more. Ridenour’s ninth dive was an inward dive pike, while Page went for a difficult dive that paid off.
“If I got second, the one person I’d want to lose to is Jimmy Page,†Ridenour said. “If I got second and I lost to Jimmy, I’m happy.â€
Ridenour, who has hardly changed his lineup of dives since the beginning of the season, stuck to his bread and butter, and put up steady, solid scores. He came back with a reverse one and a half pike on his 10th dive, and continued to hold a comfortable second place spot.
“He was consistent,†Dickerson said. “He did all his dives fairly consistent, and did them well. He just out-dove some of his competitors, and just did great.â€
As Page took a sizeable lead after his 11th and final dive, Ridenour landed a reverse one and a half, one and a half twists free. Clingerman made a push for the top spot, but lost points on an unsuccessful attempt at a difficult dive, and fell from the third spot to sixth.
“I thought I did great — I only dropped about nine points from my sectional score,†Ridenour said. “But I beat Tyler (Clingerman). He beat me in sectionals and regionals by less than 20 points combined, but I got him here.â€
Indian Creek junior Casey Johnson cashed in on Clingerman’s miscue, and finished in third place with 459.55 points. Heritage Christian senior Matt Vieke finished fourth with 458.85. Homestead senior Kyle Frebel rounded out the top five, closing the day with 454.50 points.
“The competition was very tough today,†Dickerson said. “There were five or six very good divers, and they were all right at the same level. It was just a matter of who was going to go a little over or under on their dive, and who was going to nail their dive each time.â€
Ridenour and Clingerman weren’t the only divers representing the talent-rich Zionsville sectional. Avon junior Ross Dreher finished in seventh place with 451.90 points.
Crawfordsville senior Jason Spurlock, who challenged Ridenour and Clingerman in the Bronwnsburg regional, took ninth with 404.70 points.
Having been to this stage twice before, Ridenour felt he was more comfortable, and was able to take care of business.
“My freshman and sophomore year, it was so nerve-racking,†Ridenour said. “Even though I only did the first round then, it helped a lot since this wasn’t my the first time I’ve been here. I was looking to make a comeback from last year, too.â€
Posted 3-9-08 |
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