Penn-Trafford’s Joey Ference Captures WPIAL Boys AAA Diving Gold

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Monday, February 16, 2015 | 8:02 PM


What a difference a year makes. Last year at North Allegheny High School, Joey Ference had a failed dive on his next to last attempt which cost him the silver medal. The Penn-Trafford junior made sure there would be no such drama at this year’s meet, leading throughout and finishing in first place with a score of 589.40. Ference did capture the bronze last year with a score of 403.20 and he finished 11th as a freshman two years ago.

North Allegheny senior Andrew Doerfler was strong again and captured his second consecutive silver medal finishing 86.35 points behind Ference with a score of 503.05. Mt. Lebanon senior Cary Johns who finished fourth last year, moved up one slot this year, scoring 484.20 points to grab the bronze medal.

Ference, who finished 11th in the PIAA Championships last year, will head back to Bucknell University representing the WPIAL – District 7 on Saturday March 14th. The top five finishers from this year’s event will head to the state competition. Along with Ference, Doerfler and Johns, Andrew Sederholm and Ference’s Penn-Trafford teammate senior Mike Bertoni qualified for the PIAA Championships.

Sederholm, the Franklin Regional junior, scored 416.30 points to finish fourth and Bertoni placed fifth at 408.05. Doerfler placed 14th in last year’s state tournament, Sederholm was 21st and Johns placed 25th at Bucknell. Bertoni will be making his first appearance in the PIAA Championships.

Here is the final order of finish:

(The Top 5 divers have qualified for the PIAA Diving Championships at Bucknell University. The top 16 finishers competed in the final round at North Allegheny and the top 20 were in the semifinal round. The final 14 divers did not advance from the preliminary round.)

1              Ference, Joey                                    JR            Penn Trafford                   589.40
2              Doerfler, Andrew                            SR          North Allegheny              503.05
3              Johns, Cary                                         SR          Mount Lebanon               484.20
4              Sederholm, Andrew                       JR            Franklin Regional                            416.30
5              Bertoni, Mike                                    SR           Penn Trafford                   408.05

6              Barta, Taylor                                       JR            Greater Latrobe                               405.60
7              Schon, Kevin                                      JR            Franklin Regional                              380.70
8              Kisiel, Luke                                          SR           Connellsville                                       374.70
9              Savchik, Stepehn                             JR            North Allegheny                               353.45 
10           Wolff, Joey                                         JR            North Hills                                           351.85
11           Ziegler, Jared                    JR            North Allegheny                               339.10
12           Paszek, Nate                                      SR           Penn Trafford                                    328.80   
13           Shaw, Austin                                      FR           Pine-Richland                                    327.35  
14           Swindal, Joe                                       SR           Mount Lebanon                                               325.55
15           Zottola, John                                      SR           Fox Chapel                                          316.95
16           Bumgarner, Lucas                            FR           Mount Lebanon                                               302.95
17           Donovan, Brendan                          SR           Shaler                                                   229.05
18           Curry, Levi                                           SR           North Allegheny                               228.60
19           Yawitz, Tate                                        SO          Hempfield                                           208.85
20           Kelly, Evan                         SO          Shaler                                                   210.00
21           Balta, Chris                                          SO          Upper St. Clair                                   145.45
22           Lohman, Brett                                   SR           Upper St. Clair                                   144.90
23           Turconi, Matt                                     JR            Pine-Richland                                    144.00
24           Schmelzer, Mike                              JR            Shaler                                                   143.70
25           Kissell, Chad                                       SR           Greater Latrobe                                               141.40
26           Hosfelt, Jordan                                 SR           Connellsville                                       136.40
27           Bachner, Blake                                  SR           Kiski Area                                            135.40
28           Pietrusinski, Nick                              SO          Gateway                                              135.25
29           Kindt, Zach                                          JR            Hempfield                                           134.85 
30           Saunders, Ryan                FR           Peters Township                              133.50
31           Mulaski, Bradley                               SO          Penn Hills                                            133.30
32           Penascino, Isaac                               SR           Bethel Park                                         128.45
33           Skidmore. Mitch                               SR           Moon                                                    109.20
34           Pollock, Tyler                                     JR            Moon                                                    102.35

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