He hasn't yet graduated from high school, but diver Riley McCormick has already flipped, twirled and gyrated onto the Olympic stage.
The scary thing is, if he went to four Summer Games, and he very well could, the Beijing 2008 veteran McCormick would still only be 28 at the last one. There is clearly much ahead for the Grade 12 Claremont Secondary
student. The next step is to decide on an NCAA athletic scholarship for the fall -- McCormick has narrowed his choices to the University of Miami Hurricanes or the Arizona State Sun Devils -- toward the ultimate goal of not just competing in the Summer Olympics but medalling.
As he matures, so does McCormick's dive list. He unveiled his latest yesterday at the home-pool Marc
LePoole Speedo Sting Invitational meet at Saanich
Commonwealth Place. McCormick has decided to take on not just any new dive but the mother of all dives. The back 3.5 pike somersault is considered the toughest dive in the sport. McCormick landed it with aplomb yesterday, scoring 8.5's across the board en route to the gold medal.
"It's arguably the hardest dive in the world -- basically, you're spinning until you hit [water]," said McCormick, who at 16, was the youngest of the 46 Island athletes who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
"I learned the dive after Christmas and it's turned into one of my best. I feel I'm diving the best I have in my career."
After the heady accomplishment of making it to Beijing as a teen, this year promises to be less subdued, but not by much. It is a world aquatics championships year and McCormick is off to the national championships next week in Calgary and a Grand Prix meet next month in Germany, with the eyes fixed on the 2009 worlds in August at Rome.
Before then, the avid Salmon Kings fan plans on taking in as many hockey games as he can at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre and also readying himself for his Claremont grad ceremonies in June.
McCormick is one of three Victoria Boardworks divers named to the 14-member senior Team Canada for 2009. The others are Eric Sehn and 2008 world junior bronze-medallist Rachel Kemp, a Grade 10 Claremont student.
Because he's so advanced, it's easy to overlook that McCormick is still a junior. Of the 29 divers named to the junior national team for this year are McCormick, Kemp, Fraser McKean, Shane Miszkiel and Aidan Faminoff of Victoria Boardworks.
"This club [Boardworks] has been a great place for me and will continue to be in my career," said McCormick, in between sessions yesterday at the Sting Speedo meet.
"More and more top divers from across the country are moving here to train with Boardworks."
The Victoria club, however, doesn't need to look too far. It already has produced two Olympians -- McCormick and South African Jenna Dreyer -- and a clutch of others, such as the touted young Kemp, are following in their wake.
n Victoria won the overall team title yesterday, placing well ahead of
runner-up Dive Calgary. Kemp led the way with four gold medals and a
silver, while Faminoff, Mizkiel and Morgan Weller also collected three gold medals.
cdheensaw@tc.canwest.com
