Bethel Park’s Maria Capozzi Wins AAA Gold on Final Dive

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, February 28, 2016 | 10:26 AM

In a meet seemingly dominated by underclassmen, it was a senior who ended up top of the class. Bethel Park’s Maria Capozzi finally broke through to the taste the gold at  the Girls Class AAA Diving Championships at North Allegheny High School. Capozzi slipped past Hampton’s Adrienne White in the finals, defeating her by just under ten points.

Capozzi used her experience from three previous trips to the WPIAL Diving Championships to her advantage. She finished 19th as a freshman, 7th as a sophomore, and 8th last year as a junior.  Trailing White by 19 points after the preliminary round and by 10.9 points after the semi-final round, Capozzi stacked three of her best, most difficult dives in the finals. She averaged nearly 52 points per dive in the final three dives. Her final dive of a 47.15 gave her the gold medal.

Adrienne White led most of the competition, but was passed on the 10th of 11 dives by Capozzi. White finished with the silver medal. Pine-Richland’s Mallory Charles, who finished 2nd as a freshman last year, took home the bronze. Brionna Litwin, Capozzi’s Bethel Park teammate and the only other senior to finish in the top ten, missed the podium by 1.4 points. Freshman Maddie Huitt of Pine-Richland rounded out the top five, all of whom now qualify for the PIAA Championships on March 17th at Bucknell University.

Here is the order of finish for the girls championships:

1.         Maria Capozzi             Bethel Park                 487.10
2.         Adrienne White           Hampton                     477.60
3.         Mallory Charles           Pine-Richland             452.85
4.         Brionna Litwin             Bethel Park                 451.45
5.         Maddie Huitt                Pine-Richland             432.95

(The top 5 qualify for the PIAA championships)

6.         Elizabeth Smith           Allderdice                    428.50
7.         Taylor Miller               Latrobe                        418.95
8.         Maddie Mianzo           North Allegheny          371.20
9.         Paige Kalilk                 Penn-Trafford             370.05
10.       Dixon Veltri                 Fox Chapel                 362.55
11.       Emma D’Orazio          Mt. Lebanon                350.25
12.       Autumn Fotta              North Hills                   347.45
13.       Erin Ferarri                  Baldwin                       333.75
14.       Kalli Bickett                 Mt. Lebanon                330.90
15.       Mara Ojeda                 West Allegheny           330.40
16.       Alexandra Smithco     Seneca Valley             329.80

(The top 16 advanced to the Final Round)

17.       Mary Bobik                 Greater Latrobe          235.70
18.       Morgan Malencia        Peters Township         224.30
19.       Rachel Douglas          Latrobe                        224.05
20.       Masy Kelly                  Moon Area                  223.15

(The top 20 advanced to the Semi-Final Round)

21.       Amber Shuey              Hempfield                   114.30
22.       Sydney Donati            Mt. Lebanon                139.35
23.       Peyton Moore             Seneca Valley             138.50
24.       Quinn Scharding         Baldwin                       138.00
25.       Katelyn Caccamo       Seneca Valley             134.85
26.       Meghan Busch            North Hills                   131.35
27.       Julianna DiPippa         Baldwin                       125.55
28.       Gabbrielle Romano     Seneca Valley             120.95
29.       Alexis Kauffman         Baldwin                       118.10
30.       Karlee Schneider        Hempfield                   114.20
31.       Madison Kirk               Connellsville                110.65
32.       Maria Mariani              Moon Area                  102.45
33.       Riley Aul                      Woodland Hills            100.35
34.       Sophie Kennedy         Upper St. Clair             98.60
35.       Paige Bachner            Kiski Area                    Scratch

Tags: Bethel Park