La Cañada’s Wipfli wins CIF diving championship
For the first time in nine years, the La Cañada High swimming program claimed a CIF Southern Section individual diving championship on what was a fantastic day for the boys’ and girls’ squads.
Freshman Ray Wipfli became his school’s third diving champion at the Division II finals Monday afternoon at Riverside City College.
Wipfli was one of three Spartans to finish in the top 10 and captured the 1-meter diving champion with 529.70 points, which just clipped Esperanza junior Noah Kanan (528.30).
Wipfli became his school’s first champion since John Geyer won the final of four straight Division II titles in 2009. La Cañada’s Edgar Simonyan also claimed a Division II crown in 2005.
“The win means a lot to this program and it shows how far we’ve come and that we still have a very young team,” La Cañada dive coach Art Lopez said. “It’s been a while since John Geyer. He was our last big champion in diving and it’s exciting.”
Wipfli was one of two Spartans boys competing Monday as sophomore Tatsuya Machida finished fourth with 461.70 points. The effort topped Machida’s eighth-place finish (427.25) last season.
“I was happy for Tatsuya because it was a big improvement from last year,” Lopez said. “We’re hoping that next year we’ll have the No. 1 and 2 divers in the division.”
Both swimmers contributed 39 points to the Spartans swim effort as the team gets going in the Division II prelims back at Riverside on Friday.
On the girls’ side, freshman Grace Lee performed admirably in her debut in earning sixth place with 441.45 points. Millikan’s Jenna Sonnenberg held off Crescenta Valley’s Katelynn Shaheen, 514.30-490.90, for the championship.
“You look at someone like Grace, who just started diving a couple of years ago from gymnastics, she has come a long way,” Lopez said. “As she matures as a diver, she’s going to be something.”
Twitter: @campadresports
