Sarver claims PIAA diving gold

The high school diving career for West York senior Erica Sarver could not have had a better ending.

Sarver, who posted three YAIAA championships and three District 3 Class 2A titles, can now call herself a state champion.

On Saturday, through preliminaries, semifinals and finals, she scored 458.40 points to win the delayed-PIAA Class 2A diving title at Bucknell University.

“I felt very confident, but I was a little nervous coming in as top seed and everyone was expecting me to win,” she said. “Everything was solid and consistent.

“After cuts they always announce the scores and that’s how I knew. After every cut, I made the gap a little bigger … so I tried to stay focused because I could always slip.”

It was the fourth PIAA medal won by Sarver, who will dive at San Diego State next season. As a freshman, she placed eighth, followed by fifth as a sophomore and a silver medal as a junior.

“It was awesome. It just solidified my career and progression of my skills,” she said. “I saw my name on the board and I started crying. It just hit me.

“Coming into my freshman year if you would’ve told me I was going to win states my senior year I would be like, ‘are you kidding me?’”

Sarver’s performance capped a terrific PIAA championship meet for the Bulldogs, who finished with 125 points, tying for second in the team standings with Gwynedd Mercy, behind team champ Villa Maria Academy.

Big Spring junior Shannon McCabe placed second with 408.75.

All in all, it was a great night for Big Spring as senior Dillon Novak won the PIAA 2A boys' title. Novak scored 518.90 points, more than 124 points ahead of Salisbury’s Tyler Keller, who finished second. Dover freshman Jud Pequignot made the final round and finished 16th with 261 points.

The diving championships are normally held between preliminaries and finals of the PIAA swimming competition, however they were delayed with the schedule changes forced by Winter Storm Stella.