Winn Finds Pool to His Advantage

Justin Winn found his home pool--and diving boards--to his liking Thursday afternoon.

The Cerritos Valley Christian freshman, who competes for the L’Equipe Diving Club of Irvine, improved as the meet went on and out-dueled Anand Samanta of St. Margaret’s to win the Southern Section Division III boys’ diving championship at Heritage Park.

It was a welcome homecoming of sorts for Winn, who is driven from his home in Bellflower several times a week to train at the Irvine swimming and diving facility.

“I think it helped me a lot to dive here,” Winn said. “It’s nice knowing your own boards.”

Indeed, judges seemed to recognize Winn’s ease on the one- and three-meter springboards as the competition progressed. Except for his fourth attempt--a back 2 1/2 that drew low marks--Winn held off Samanta and Max Bookman of Los Angeles Brentwood, who finished third.

Bookman took the early lead, but in the middle rounds Winn began to take charge.

Samanta took the results in stride.

“I think things went well,” said Samanta, a senior who will dive for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.) next year. “It pretty much came down to our last couple of dives. He made his. I did a reverse 3 1/2 and messed up on my approach.”

The two have battled throughout the school year in interscholastic and club meets. Samanta, who competes for Crown Valley Divers of Laguna Niguel, beat Winn several times.

But Thursday that wasn’t the case.

“I was a little nervous,” Winn said about the battle with Samanta. “He has beaten me before, so I knew that if he hit his dives, I had to hit mine.”

Samanta was the only diver from Orange County entered in the boys’ competition. Paso Robles placed three divers among the top 12 to lead all teams.

In girls’ competition, Sarah Campaigne of St. Margaret’s, the only county competitor, struggled in qualifying, but scored well on her final three dives to finish 10th. Lisa Derabin of Mira Loma Jurupa Valley was the winner.

The Division II boys’ finals are scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. today. The girls’ competition is expected to begin at approximately 1:30 p.m.