Chambersburg's Nick Cover 2nd in Mid Penn diving

Chambersburg diver Nick Cover took a good run at a Mid Penn Conference championship on Wednesday night at Cumberland Valley High School.

But, despite having a good performance and scoring 478.65 points, Cover had to settle for second place behind Jake Hedrick of Hershey, who totaled 506.80 points.

"It was definitely one of Nick's strongest nights in an 11-dive competition," Chambersburg diving coach Ryan Crider said. "His twisting dives were spot on; that's what carried him through."

Crider said Cover's score was close to his highest for an 11-dive event. The best dive for Cover was an inward 1 1/2 that piled up 55.2 points.

He will compete in the District 3 Class 3A championships on Feb. 25 at Wilson.

Jacob Whipple of State College placed third, more than 100 points behind Cover.

The Trojans had two other competitors at the Mid Penns. Sean Vessah was disqualified from the boys competition, although it was pretty amazing he was there in the first place.

Crider said, "It was a judgement call. They said he didn't put enough twist in to the two twisting dives he attempted."

Vessah had never tried diving until about a week and a half ago, and in his first meet, against Hershey, he scored high enough to qualify for Mid Penns.

"I'm really impressed with that," Crider said.

Senior Calista Myers competed in the girls event and placed 11th with 203.80 points. The winner was Hershey's Meredith Gould (408.35), followed by Laura McIlhenny of Carlisle (404.10) and Quincy Blubaugh of Hershey (335.70).

Crider said, "Calista had a pretty good showing. It's only her second year of diving and this was her first Mid Penns."