Shenandoah’s Kate Hillman Wins Pizza Hut Invitational

Shenandoah’s Kate Hillman Wins Pizza Hut Invitational

By Kevin Rockhill

Hamilton South Eastern High School hosted the 1^st Annual Pizza Hut Invitation Saturday introducing a new format to the Indiana high school diving community. The field of  girls and boys  from across the state featured many of the state’s top 20 ranked divers.

The event format was identical to the Olympic Trials where each diver completed a list of 5 optional dives three times and their cumulative score determined the winner. Unlike a typical 6 dive meet or 11 dive championship event, this format required the divers to not only complete each of their dives well one time, they had to complete each of their five dives well three times to be in the hunt for the title.

Shenandoah’s Kate Hillman topped the field of girls with a total score of 660.20 points followed by Hamilton Southeastern’s Christina Beyerl with 618.60 points and Homesteads Mariah Kiefer with 569.65 points. Beyerl and Kiefer finished in the top 16 at the 2007-08 IHSAA State Championships.  Highland was represented by Kelsey Upperman (15^th) and Cassie Gaton (26^th). Pendleton Heights was represented by Kristen Sylvester (20^th), Haley Dick (22^nd), and Hannah Cochran. Cochran was delayed by and academic commitment and only completed 1 list of 5 dives, however a three list average would have placed her in 9^th position.

On the boy’s side, Dakota Johnson earned top honors with a score of 550.60 points. Highland’s Josh Doggett was 5^th with 441.10 points. Pendleton Heights’ was represented by Cody Thrasher (9^th), Josh Wilson (11^th), and Brady Tibbets (17^th).

Hillman was also awarded the Pizza Hut Dive of the meet for her Inward 1 ½ somersault pike that topped all dives in the meet by scoring 50.4 points on her best one and averaged 47.2 points for the three attempts.

Shenandoah and Pendleton Heights will be in competition again Jan 6^th against Anderson High School beginning at 5:15pm at Pendleton Height High School.  Highland’s next meet will be against Pendleton Heights at Highland on Jan 13^th at 5:00pm.