There was little suspense in figuring out who the top divers would be at Thursday’s Division I boys diving sectional at the University of Akron’s Ocasek Natatorium.
But that didn’t stop Hudson’s Alex Obendorf and Nordonia’s Stephen Romanik from providing a little of their own drama.
The two sophomores, both top-five finishers at state last year, entered the meet as the clear favorites. Just 2.5 points separated the two entering the final round, but Obendorf managed to hold off Romanik, outscoring him 57.35-49.50 on their final dives, to claim the sectional title.
Obendorf finished with 527.30 points, which is a personal and school record. Romanik’s 517.40 is also a personal best. Lake’s Jon Schlafer (499.20) was third, the same spot he was in last year.
But this time, it was Obendorf on top, instead of Romanik.
“I didn’t think I would do this well,” said Obendorf, who was third at state last year. “When Stephen took over in the middle rounds, I thought, ‘I better win this now.’ ”
Obendorf was the leader after the first round, and led the chase going into the first cut following the fifth round. Schlafer trailed by 9.70, and Romanik by 11.5. But Romanik was about to make his move.
Obendorf earned his lowest score of the night on his seventh dive, opening the door for Schlafer to first take the lead, followed by Romanik, who scored a meet-best 66.00 on his seventh dive. That gave him a 22.5-point lead.
“That was the one that really set me up,” said Romanik of the reverse two-and-a-half tuck.
But Romanik didn’t break 50 points the rest of the meet, as Obendorf rallied back, taking a 2.5-point lead after his tenth dive, and taking the meet after his eleventh.
“[Romanik] is my main competition, but I just wanted to do better than last year,” said Obendorf. “And I have improved a lot since last year.”
Obendorf and Romanik were the only non-seniors to finish in the top five at least year’s state meet. In fact, they were just two of four underclassmen in the top 16.
“[Obendorf] is the top state finisher coming back, so if I had to guess, right now, if he’s not favored, he’s in the top two,” said Hudson diving coach Dan Miller. “So it’s exciting. We are definitely hoping for big things over the next few weeks and this is a good building block.”
With two more years left, the battle between Obendorf and Romanik hasn’t even reach halftime, but the swimmers are not heated rivals. In fact, they both train at the Ocasek Natatorium and are close enough friends to carpool on occasion.
“We’ve known each other for about five years now,” said Romanik. “We push each other. If somebody is having a bad day, we try to cheer them up.”
Rounding out the top five at Thursday’s meet was GlenOak’s Austin Baad (431.40) and Canton McKinley’s Jackson Gray (378.90).
The top 16 divers advance to next week’s district meet at Cleveland State University.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/
