Blue Mountain's Hailey Scheuer stands atop the podium holding the District 11 championship placard after winning Wednesday's Class AA girls' diving championship at Parkland High School. Other medal winners were, from left: Blue Mountain's Ana Oettl, fourth; Allentown Central Catholic's Alyssa Stahlnecker, second; Scheuer; and Blue Mountain's Shyanna White, third (Photo by Leeza Bartol).

Blue Mountain junior nails final dive to win gold

ALLENTOWN — Hailey Scheuer saved her best for last.

The result was a third straight District 11 Class AA girls’ diving championship.

The Blue Mountain junior scored a meet-best 43.20 points on her final dive to leapfrog Allentown Central Catholic’s Alyssa Stahlnecker and claim the gold medal during Wednesday’s competition at Parkland High School.

By nailing the back, one-somersault with 2.5 twists dive (2.7 difficulty), Scheuer finished with 393.50 points, giving the Schuylkill League a sweep of the Class AA diving crowns after Pottsville’s Adam Klinger won the boys’ title Tuesday night.

“It’s definitely very exciting,” Scheuer said of winning three straight. “Definitely a huge goal to get four (district) gold medals, but you never know.”

Stahlnecker took silver with 382.70 points while two of Scheuer’s teammates, Shyanna White and Ana Oettl, placed third and fourth with 316.00 and 296.60 points, respectively.

Pottsville’s Lila Evans was fifth with 264.45 points, while Blue Mountain’s Molly Stone was sixth with 259.15 points. North Schuylkill’s Annabelle Bennett, who was in third place for most of the meet, was disqualified after failing two dives.

The 1-3-4-6 finish gave Blue Mountain a whopping 64 team points heading into the weekend’s District 11 Swimming Championships, where the Eagles will look to win an eighth straight Class AA team title.

“I was definitely looking forward to this meet,” Scheuer said. “Shyanna is a senior and I just wanted to have a good diving competition. She always calms me down. It’s great.

“It’s great diving with these girls. I’m just happy I could win three straight in a row with this amazing team and help our swimmers.”

The meet shaped up as a battle between Scheuer and Stahlnecker from the outset, with the two divers swapping the lead several times throughout.

Scheuer led after scoring 34.85 on her first dive, then Stahlnecker used a 39.60 score on her second dive to vault into the lead. Scheuer led after scoring 42.90 points on a forward, two-somersault tuck (2.2 difficulty) on her fourth dive, but Stahlnecker led 187.30-185.35 at the first break after five dives.

Scheuer used a 38.50 score on an inward, 1.5-somersault dive in Round 7 to move back in front, only to have Stahlnecker regain the lead in Round 8.

As they entered the final round, Stahlnecker led 352.25-350.30.

“I put more of my uncomfortable dives toward the beginning, just to get them out of the way so I could focus,” Scheuer said. “I knew it was going to be close the whole time.

“She’s an amazing diver. I knew we were going to be neck-and-neck, back-and-forth. I wanted to save my most comfortable and best dives until the end and that’s what I did.”

Stahlnecker went fourth in the diving order, with Scheuer going seventh. After Stahlnecker scored 30.45 on her final dive, Scheuer knew what she needed to do.

The last Class AA diver of the final round, Scheuer climbed onto the board needing 32.40 points to pass Stahlnecker and win gold.

As her scores were announced, the Blue Mountain team, located under the scoreboard, went wild in celebration.

“That one always saves me,” Scheuer said. “It always saves me.

“Standing on the board, getting ready to do it, I was horrified. I knew I needed to nail it. I’m pretty comfortable with that dive. I’m happy with how my lineup was set.”

Scheuer and Stahlnecker both advance to the PIAA Class AA Diving Championships, set for Saturday, March 14, at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. It’s also possible that White could qualify for states if a district doesn’t have enough divers to fill its automatic berths.

Bethlehem Freedom’s Hayden Taylor won the Class 3A title in impressive fashion, breaking her own Parkland pool record with 569.45 points. Emmaus’ Addie Cornish was second with 422.80 points, followed by Parkland’s Samantha Schultz in third at 402.40 and Nazareth’s Charlotte Zelechowski in fourth at 369.35.

Diving is the first part of the District 11 Swimming and Diving Championships. The swimming championships are set for Friday and Saturday at Parkland. For a preview, tune back into T102 Sports Now on Thursday afternoon.