Cubberley third, Niekamp 10th at state

For Holden Cubberley, it was a big jump up on the podium.

For Vivian Niekamp, it was bouncing back from a tough finish a year ago.

And for Kameron MacLean and Xander Spees, it was a solid debut.

Celina junior Cubberley improved on his eighth-place finish at the Division II boys state diving championship a season ago by placing third in a competitive field at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton on Wednesday.

Niekamp, who missed the finals by a slim margin last season, posted her best showing as the New Bremen junior finished 10th overall to earn All-Ohio honors.

St. Marys teammates MacLean and Spees made debuts at the state diving meet. MacLean reached the finals and took home 13th-place while Spees, who earned a state spot over the weekend after appearing to have missed by less than a point at district, was unable to advance past the first round in taking 22nd.

Cubberley had a good feeling about his effort from the get-go.

"I had a really good warmup," said Cubberley via telephone after the awards ceremony. "When I started putting the dives up on the board for the meet, I was landing where I wanted them to."

Cubberley stayed second behind the Wellington School's George Callanan through the last few dives before Hawken's Angus Williams edged his way into second late. Callanan finished with 469.50 point with Williams second with 425.15.

Cubberley tallied 416.95 and his third-place showing tied the Celina record for top finish by a Bulldog diver with Collen Byer, who placed third in the 2011 state tournament.

"It's really special to me just because I went into diving wanting to be one the best divers we've had," said Cubberley. "Now being there as a junior makes me feel proud to be from Celina and (representing) the Northwest District."

MacLean, who finished third behind Cubberley at the district meet, finished with a score of 342.00, 0.60 points behind 12-place finisher Charlie Spyker of Shawnee.

Spees was unable to get out of the first round, finishing with a score of 131.35, less than 14 points out of the top 20 that advanced to the semifinals.

The championship day started with the Division II girls meet. Through the first two rounds, Niekamp, who missed going to the finals last season, was comfortably locked into the top 12, securing a spot for all three rounds and 11 dives. In her final three dives, Niekamp came through with three strong efforts to finish with a final score of 387.45 to move up two spots and finish 10th, just under 19.5 points away from earning a spot in the top eight and on the podium.

"My last three dives definitely had a lot of DD (degree of difficulty, which allows for higher scores) in them," said Niekamp. "They helped me get some points. Dad (Nate Niekamp) called them my 'money dives.' "

It was the second time that Niekamp earned second-team All-Ohio honors (going to those who place ninth through 16th) after finishing 14th as a freshman.

"I was just happy to be there," Niekamp continued. "It was definitely a good time. All my warmups went pretty good. I had some high hopes going into the meet. I just tried to dive to the best of my ability."