CdM's Seagondollar takes Division I diving title (with VIDEO)

MISSION VIEJO Adam Seagondollar played high school diving's mystery man at times this spring.

A newcomer to the sport, he dived for his high school for the first time.

“Where'd he come from?” the Corona del Mar senior heard.

After his performance Tuesday, Seagondollar no longer will be a secret.

He survived a precarious finish to edge Mission Viejo's Kyle Kolar by 4.55 points and win the Division I title at the Marguerite Recreation Center.

Seagondollar finished with 530.90 points. He became Corona del Mar's first male diving champion and first overall since girls standout Sandy Zubrin in 1994.

Seagondollar started diving about 18 months ago. But on Tuesday, he seemed more like a cool veteran than a rookie. He led the 11-dive competition for the final 10 rounds.

“(This is) pretty rare,” said Curt Wilson, Seagondollar's club coach with Laguna Niguel-based Crown Valley Divers. “Again, (he is) very talented. He's got a lot of passion for the sport. A lot of guts and he works hard.”

Seagondollar held a .90 advantage on Kolar going into the 10th round. Kolar, a sophomore who also dives for Crown Valley, then missed an inward 21/2 somersault tuck on the 3-meter springboard.

Seagondollar followed by scoring well on a reverse
11/2 somersault pike on the 1-meter to open a 20.85 lead.

The divers then reversed the roles. Kolar closed by nailing his forward 11/2 somersault with one twist. The dive on 1-meter scored three 9's. Seagondollar finished by missing his reverse 21/2 somersault tuck on the 3-meter.

“He got me a lot more nervous,” Seagondollar said of Kolar, third last season.

The summer before his junior year, Seagondollar took a diving class at Crown Valley. He said his father forced the move but the sport quickly stuck.

Seagondollar was academically ineligible to dive last spring.

In the girls competition, Mission Viejo's Haley McNamara, also a Crown Valley diver, claimed her second consecutive Division I crown, scoring a school-record 592.05 points.

The sophomore scored four 10s en route to outdistancing Paulina Guzman of Long Beach Millikan (546.35). She also posted the highest Division I score since Allison Brennan's record 621.65 in 2001.

>> Read more in Boys Swimming and Girls Swimming

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com