SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION I DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mission Viejo’s Earley, Hubbart Win Titles

When newly crowned Arika Earley of Mission Viejo heard which two dives remained for teammate and leader Jason Hubbart, she flashed him a “no problem” smile, quickly followed up with a hug of encouragement.

Hubbart got plenty of mileage out of both.

He left his best for last--twisting dives from the three-meter board, both with high degrees of difficulty--and performed them well enough to win the Southern Section Division I individual diving championship Wednesday at Heritage Park.

Earlier in the day, Earley turned in an impressive final round of dives and jumped from fourth to first place. Earley’s 461 points outpaced El Toro’s Amy Sloan (447.30) and Capistrano Valley’s Summer Brown (444), who was second here last year. Capistrano Valley’s four divers finished in the top six, with Jennifer Maxwell, Darcy Stuart and Cassie Day in the fourth through sixth positions.

Earley and Hubbart were the only Diablos to represent their school and each picked up 16 points for the swim team, which will compete Friday night in Long Beach.

“We hoped we could both win to get them some points,” said Hubbart, whose 503.10 outscored second-place Ernie Higbee of Marina (426.40) and Ryan Wells of Westlake (393.55). Irvine’s Zack Williams, who won the 4-A title in 1990, finished fifth.

Hubbart, a senior, has finished third twice and fifth once in this meet. But victory wasn’t his only goal. According to his club coach, Mission Viejo Natadores’ Janet Ely-Lagourgue, Hubbart is an exceptional athlete who needed to improve his consistency.

“That was one of his best performances,” she said.

Orange County teams, particularly South Coast League teams, dominated the girls’ competition. Their top-five results were almost identical to last week’s South Coast League meet, where Brown, Earley, Sloan, Stuart and Maxwell finished in the one through five spots. The best finish by a non-Orange County diver was Ayala’s Jamie Palmer, who was seventh.

Earley, who dives for the Natadores, as do Brown, Sloan, Stuart and Day--wasn’t overjoyed with her title: “It’s high school diving. High school diving is not that important.”

This was the first time in seven years that divers from the same school won the boys’ and girls’ titles. In 1986, Mission Viejo’s Brian Earley, Arika’s brother, won his first of three section titles and Krista Wilson was the girls’ winner.