Cubberley finishes state runner-up

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

The battle for the Division II boys state diving championship turned into a two-man battle between good friends.

Celina's Holden Cubberley gave Gates Mills Hawken's Angus Williams a battle and finished second to claim a third straight podium finish and first team All-Ohio finish at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton on Thursday.

Cubberley, who finished eighth as a sophomore and third last season, breaks the tie he had with former Bulldog diver Collen Byer for the highest finish for a male diver in program history.

"It's just been really fun. I pushed myself and it was good to see it finally pay off," said Cubberley via telephone after competition.

"I was really just overwhelmed. I didn't know what to say because I saw my name on the board, and then I looked at my score and thought 'Oh, wait. I actually did it!' I got up there and was just happy."

Cubberley knows Williams, who was state runner-up last season, well from club diving.

"Angus is a really good diver and a close friend of mine," said Cubberley. "He's a good athlete all the way around. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to get first place except for myself."

When the 11-dive competition was complete, Williams was at the top of the leaderboard with 483.00 points. Cubberley, who set a school record last week at district, finished with 436.80 points, over 18 points ahead of third-place finisher Max Roth of Lexington.

"It was fun," said Cubberley. "I didn't put up my best score, but I had a real consistent meet. I just had fun with it.

"I think I dove well today. I was pretty consistent with my scores. Everyone was getting scored a little lower than they're typically scored, but that didn't slow me down because that kept everybody at the same pace."

St. Marys' Kameron MacLean, who finished 13th last season, moved up three spots to earn a second consecutive second team All-Ohio finish in taking 10th with 366.65 points, less than five points out of eighth place.

Roughrider teammate Xander Spees, who did not make it out of the preliminary round last season, reached the semifinals but fell short of making the top 16 that moved on to the final three dives, finishing 17th with 228.05 points.

In the swimming competition in the afternoon, St. Marys was unable to score any points. The 200-meter medley relay team of Spees, Reese Triplett, Griffin Luebke and Charlie Krebs placed 20th overall while the 200 freestyle relay team of Krebs, Spees, Austin Hertenstein and Marcus McClain finished 22nd.

Minster picked up two points and earned a pair of second team All-Ohio honors. Nicholas Clune finished 16th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 53.42 seconds. Ben Stammen added a 16th-place finish in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.24 seconds.

Clune also finished 20th in the 100 backstroke while the 200 freestyle team of Clune, Ben Stammen, Lucas Stammen and Alex Albers were disqualified.