Putting all of his focus on diving proved to be just what Dylan Szegedi needed for his senior season at St. Francis de Sales.

“I decided last spring I wanted to dive in college,” said Szegedi, an Oregon native. “After diving last year, I kept diving all throughout the spring and summer and I stopped for a few weeks to play football. After football ended on a Friday, that Monday I was back on the board. I couldn't wait. I knew we had the potential to be a great team this year if we kept working hard, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

St. Francis, with the help of Szegedi's fourth-place finish, took second place in the team standings at last weekend's Division I state swimming and diving meet in Canton. The Knights scored 298½ points to finish second to Cincinnati St. Xavier (312), which won its third straight state title.

Szegedi placed 11th at last year's state meet, scoring 377.3 points, but he improved on that score dramatically last week. Behind a big score on his inward double, Szegedi scored 443.75 points.

“I think it was because I really put more emphasis into diving this year,” said Szegedi, who placed 12th at the 2009 state meet. “The inward double is my highest degree of difficulty (dive) and I can do it pretty well most of the time. I think I got about 55 points, which is a lot for anyone. Anybody would take a 55-point dive.”

He said entering the state meet as the No. 3 seed motivated him to place in the top three, but he was “happy” with fourth place in the 24-man field.

“I thought that was a good accomplishment for myself,” Szegedi said. “It was a quality meet. The top two guys dove really well; we all dove really well in the top five. Third place would have been great, but I was happy with fourth.”

Scott TenEyck, who coaches several local divers, said Szegedi's performance in his final state meet was just what he expected of the St. Francis senior.

“It was an outstanding end to his high school career,” TenEyck said. “He did a really nice job; it was a tough meet. There was real tight point spread between second and 10th place for quite a while, and Dylan was in and out of it. He finished his last three dives with a real strong finish, so it was a good, solid meet for him.”

Szegedi, who plans to dive and major in education in college, said he has narrowed his choices to Wayne State University, which is located in suburban Detroit, West Virginia University or the University of Connecticut.

“I really don't have a timetable,” Szegedi said. “I just want to weigh all my options and make sure I pick the best place for me.”

Three other local divers competed at the state meet: Megan Siford of Clay competed in D-I and Samantha TenEyck of Lake and Bailey Dipman of Genoa competed in D-II. Siford scored 157.35 points in the preliminary round and finished 23rd out of 24 divers. She did not advance to the semifinal round.

TenEyck scored 369.55 points to place seventh, while Dipman scored 361.40 points to place ninth. Both divers are coached by Scott TenEyck.

“Bailey, for her first year down at state, dove really solid,” the coach said. “Her last couple dives were a little shaky, but there are good divers that don't make the cut at all, and her first time down there as a sophomore and she made top 12. That's a pretty remarkable meet.”

Samantha TenEyck, a two-time state qualifier, placed 11th at last year's state meet.

“Samantha had a really solid meet,” coach TenEyck said. “She missed one dive that kind of hurt her. This was her second year down there and her goal was to make the podium, and she did that. I'm very pleased with both the girls, and Dylan. It was nice to go down there and have all three of your kids place in the top 12.”

In the D-II boys meet, Eastwood junior Nathan Decker placed 10th in the 500 freestyle with a career-best time of 4:48.98. He swam the prelims in 4:51.99. Decker finished in 4:50.74 in winning the 500 free at the district meet.

Lindsey Myers, a sophomore from Woodville, was on the Notre Dame Academy team that won the district championship for the third year in a row and had six swimmers compete in the state meet.  Joining Myers at state were juniors Ali Sellick, Madison Katich, and Rachael Dzierzak, senior Anne MacKay as well as alternate junior Kayla Lehman.

The 200 medley relay team of Myers, Sellick, Dzierzak, and MacKay qualified for the finals and finished in 10th place. As a team the Eagles finished 16th.

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