Pottsville senior Adam Klinger shows off his bronze medal after placing third at Friday's PIAA Class AA Boys' Diving Championships at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Pottsville senior caps career with impressive performance

LEWISBURG — Adam Klinger capped his record-breaking career with another memorable performance.

The Pottsville senior put on a diving display Friday at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium, placing third in the Class AA boys’ competition for the second straight season.

Bishop Shanahan’s Landyn Snook captured the gold with 490.20 points, with three-time defending state champion Ky Arnot of Interboro placing second with 477.90 points.

Klinger challenged the two District 1 dynamos and made it a three-person battle for the lead the entire day, finishing with 466.15 points to earn back-to-back bronze medals.

He’s the first diver in Schuylkill League history to win more than one state medal and the only one to place as high as third.

“To win two medals alone is an honor,” Klinger said. “It’s never something middle school me or freshman or sophomore year me would have thought I’d be doing. For both of those medals to be third-place medals, it’s something junior year me never thought I’d be doing.

“It was my goal this year to get top three again. I was real close to second … I would have loved to get second … I’m still just as happy as third. Top-three finish is all that I wanted. Good day.”

Klinger entered the state meet seeded second behind Snook and hoped to maintain his seed or at least place in the top three.

He achieved those goals with a balanced routine that featured three dives that scored an identical 49.40 points and six others that scored in the 40s.

Snook took the lead from Arnot in Round 4 and never let it go.

Klinger, meanwhile, briefly climbed into second after scoring 46.8 points on his ninth dive, a reverse 1.5 somersault pike (2.4 difficulty).

Arnot moved back into second in Round 10 and was able to hold off Klinger despite the Schuylkill League and District 11 champion scoring 42.90 and 49.40 on his final two dives.

“I definitely was on today,” Klinger said. “My biggest concern today was my hurdles since that has been inconsistent, but it’s gotten more consistent in the past week. Having that thought it was better got me through.

“I was definitely consistent. It was one of my better days for a state meet.”

Klinger said his best dive was his seventh dive, a forward, 2.5 somersault from the pike position (2.6 difficulty). That dive scored 49.40 points and moved him within 10 points of Snook and 1.65 points behind Arnot at that point.

“My seventh dive, the front 2.5 (somersault), I went very short … I went super short … on that dive during warm-ups,” Klinger said. “The moment I did the hurdle, the moment I took that last step, I felt that and I was like, ‘I got it.’

“I came out when I thought it was right and I nailed it.”

As he posed for photos with his coach/mom Denise Klinger, Adam reflected on a diving career that almost never was.

He almost quit the sport his freshman season and credits working with Lehigh Diving Club coach Frank Donnelly for his rise to stardom.

Along the way, Klinger won the first two Schuylkill League Diving Invitational titles, three straight Schuylkill League championships, two District 11 Class AA crowns, qualified for states four times and took home two state bronze medals.

He holds every Schuylkill League and Pottsville diving record there is, in both the 6-dive and 11-dive events, and holds 11-dive pool records at Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill and Pottsville.

Klinger’s score of 609.30 at this year’s Schuylkill League Diving Championships, where he scored a perfect 10 on one of his dives, is the highest score ever posted by a Schuylkill League diver in an 11-dive competition.

In his 11-dive postseason competitions this season, Klinger scored 485.15 (SL invite), 609.30 (leagues), 520.50 (districts) and 466.15 (states).

“When I first stepped on the diving board my freshman year for the first time in 10 years, I didn’t think I was going to be sticking around for a long time,” Klinger said. “It was after my sophomore year when I realized I had some true potential.

“These last two years, my junior year and my senior year, they were the highlights of my career.”

Klinger signed his NCAA Division I letter of intent to continue his diving and academic careers at Seton Hall University in December.

His high school career now over, achieving success at the college level is his next goal.

“To think that this is only the halfway point,” Klinger said, “it’s going really fast, I really wish it would slow down a bit. In terms of a high school career, I don’t think I could have asked for something better.

“The work I’ve put in, four hours a day, six days a week … now it’s time for college.”

PIAA Diving Championships

At Kinney Natatorium, Bucknell University

Boys’ Class AA Final Results

Diving (Top 8 of 24) — 1. Landyn Snook (Bishop Shanahan) 490.20, 2. Ky Arnot (Interboro) 477.90, 3. Adam Klinger (Pottsville) 466.15, 4. Cayden McDonnell (Bishop McDevitt) 425.50, 5. Hayden Slaski (Northwestern Lehigh) 399.65, 6. Rhyan Henz (Shamokin Area) 375.80, 7. Ted Terrizzi (Erie Cathedral Prep) 370.25, 8. Isaac Burtt (Beaver Area) 339.50