Sophomore Riley McGrath becomes first RES student to qualify for state in diving

Sophomore Riley McGrath has become the first Resurrection College Prep student to qualify for state in diving. While RES does not have its own diving team, the school is able to enter student athletes into the playoffs.

At last weekend’s sectional dive meet at Glenbrook South, Riley qualified for state.

“Riley's best dive of the meet was her Inward 1 1/2 (403c), which she scored 53 points on. I've been coaching Riley for over 5 years now and without a doubt that's the best she's ever done that dive,” said her diving coach Patrick Schulze.

“I was really impressed with how she handled herself in a high pressure situation. To compete at that high of a level after having no competitions since August was truly impressive!”

Overall, Riley had a score of 470 at last weekend’s sectional. The minimum score to qualify for state is 400. Riley is listed 5th on the state qualifier list, meaning she had the fifth highest score out of all the divers at the sectional meet. 

“I am really happy that I qualified, because I did not qualify last year. And the people I was at sectionals against were really good and a lot of them were older than me,” Riley said.

In addition to qualifying for state, Riley had other diving accomplishments this year. Over the summer, Riley participated in AU nationals in San Antonio and placed 12th on one-meter, which is the dive she will compete in for state, and also placed 9th on platform.

Riley said she has been diving since she was in 4th grade, and said she practices all the time. One thing she said that helps is that every time she practices a dive, “I would pretend that I was at a meet, so that when I was at the meet I would not be as nervous,” Riley said.

Riley will now go on to compete on Friday, November 11th in the preliminary round. From there, the state takes the top 16 highest-scoring divers to compete in the semifinals.

From the semifinals, the state takes the top 12 highest-scoring divers to compete in the state finals. The State Competition Final is Saturday, November 12th.

Going into Friday’s competition, Riley said, “I am a little bit nervous, but I almost just want to do my best to not think about it, because I am just happy I got there in the first place, so now whatever happens, happens,” Riley said.

When asked what it would mean to her if she won state, Riley said, “I haven’t really thought about it. I think a big part of it was just getting there, but I probably would be really happy.”