Dumais Makes Quiet Splash With 2 Junior Diving Titles

“Troy Dumais, you’ve won two National Junior Olympic diving championships. Where are you going now?”

When Joe Montana won most-valuable-player honors at the Super Bowl, the answer was Disneyland. But the folks at the Magic Kingdom weren’t waiting for Ventura diver Troy Dumais, so Dumais did the next-best thing.

“We went out to dinner and I got some money to play the arcades,” Dumais said.

Dumais, 11, won national 13-and-under championships in the 10-meter platform and three-meter springboard events last weekend in Clayton, Mo. He finished fourth in the one-meter springboard.

Dumais’ scores in the platform event surprised him.

“I usually don’t get those great scores on my optionals,” he said. “I guess I did a better job on top, the way I got off the tower.”

The highlight of his three-meter effort was an inward two-and-a-half somersault.

Troy Dumais’ brother, Justin, 12, placed third in the three-meter, fifth in the one-meter and 11th in platform.

“I did better than last year but I still could have done better,” Justin said. “I think I peaked two or three weeks ago. I wanted to win a national championship in 13 and under . . . but there is always next year in 14-16.”

Ten-year-old Brice Dumais, the youngest member of the diving Dumais clan, finished 14th in the three-meter and the platform and 15th in the one-meter in his first national-championship appearance.

“All (of the Dumais brothers) are entirely different personalities,” said Van Austin of the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena, the coach of the youngsters. “But all three are innately coordinated and lack fear.

“Most of the body control they have is through extensive training. You add that to basic coordination and nerve and you have unlimited potential.”