Report by Jessica Pollack

Three Long Beach divers traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the USA Diving Spring Junior West National Championships.  Larry Reinhard, Jr. and Deon Reid both competed in the boys 16-18 year old competition.  Paulina Guzman qualified in the girls 16-18 competition.

Deon Reid had the best finish of our Long Beach Divers with a fifth place finish in the 16-18 year boys 1 meter springboard competition.  The Poly High School Sophomore was the highest Southern California finisher in the 1 meter competition. There were only 27.45 points separating first and fifth place.  With average scores of 45 to 55 points per dive, this is a tiny margin.  This was Deon’s first USA Diving Spring Junior West Nationals in this age group.  Head coach Debby McCormick is excited by what this means for Deon’s future with two more years in this category.

Larry Reinhard, a Wilson High School Senior, also was the top Southern California finisher in the boys 16-18 year old 3 meter springboard competition in his final USA Diving Spring Junior West Championships.  He had an amazing score of 60.20 on the reverse two and a half dive.  Larry is moving on to Stanford University in the fall where he will compete in NCAA Division I.

Millikan High School Senior, Paulina Guzman also had her last USA Diving Spring Junior West Nationals before moving on to UCLA in the fall.  In a very difficult field with only 22.75 separating her from first place, Paulina bested two-thirds of the field.

All three divers train at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach with McCormick Divers along with two Huntington Beach Divers.  Thirteen year old Clark Pitti and twelve year old Brandon Loschiavo also qualified for spring nationals in the boys 14-15 and boys 12-13 events.

McCormick Divers will miss Larry and Paulina, though proud that they are continuing the tradition of divers who continue on diving in college after leaving McCormick Divers in Long Beach.

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