Penn-Trafford’s Joey Ference Repeats as WPIAL AAA Diving Champ

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, February 28, 2016 | 10:57 AM

Second verse, same as the first for Penn-Trafford’s Joey Ference, who came into Saturday’s Boys Class AAA Diving Championships as the favorite, and the senior left with his second straight gold medal posting the only score above 500, as he finished his 11-dive set with 546.90 points. Ference admitted afterwards that he was a little bit disappointed that he didn’t come close to his score of 589.40 from last year, or the WPIAL record of 610.00, but in the end, Ference realized a gold medal is a gold medal and a second consecutive first place finish in the Championship.

Ference was a big part of the story, but freshman were another part, as 2 first time competitors finished in the Top 5 and will head to the PIAA Diving Championships. Jonah Cagley from Fox Chapel finished second with a score of 446.05 to capture the silver medal and Owen Johns frim Mt. Lebanon earned 428.25 points to finish in fourth place. North Allegheny senior Stephen Savchik placed 3rd with 438.00 points to earn the bronze medal while fellow senior Joey Wolff from North Hills finished fifth with a score of 405.15.

For Ference, the gold medal put a finish on a great scholastic career that saw the Pitt-bound diver capture a bronze medal as a sophomore to go with his back-to-back gold medals. Wolff, who qualified for the diving championships all four years of his high school career makes his first trip to the State Championships. The medal for Savchik was his first as he made his second straight appearance in the diving finals.

The Top Five finishers will head to Bucknell University on March 16th to represent the WPIAL/District 7 at the Kinney Natatorium.

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 12 divers did not advance from the preliminary round.)

1.        Ference, Joey                  SR    Penn-Trafford              546.90
2.        Cagley, Jonah                  FR    Fox Chapel                 446.05
3.        Savchik, Stephen            SR    North Allegheny         438.00
4.        Johns, Owen                    FR    Mt. Lebanon                428.25
5.        Wolff, Joey                        SR    North Hills                    405.15
6.       Sederholm, Andrew         SR       Franklin Regional   392.50
7.       Paszik, Nathan       JR Penn-Trafford   389.95
8. Shaw, Austin  SO Pine-Richland  387.95
9. Yawitz, Tate     JR Hempfield      374.25
10. Swindal, Joe   SO  Mt. Lebanon  365.45
11.  Ziegler, Jared     SR    North Allegheny      363.85
12. Loeffler, Magnus FR Fox Chapel  363.30
13. Schmelzer, Mike  SR  Shaler   355.20
14.  Schon, Kevin     SR    Franklin Regional   351.65
15.     Balta, Chris      SO    Upper St. Clair    350.50
16. Fishell, Mason  FR Franklin Regional 346.45
17. Jacobyansky, Nick SR Connellsville  236.10
18.   Kelly, Evan          JR    Shaler              234.80
19. Laslavic, Alexander JR Seneca Valley  227.25
20. Kindt, Zach  SR Hempfield  213.00
21. Grunebach, Michael SR Chartiers Valley 142.50
22. Mulaski, Bradley         JR       Penn Hills                    142.50
23.    Bumgarner, Lucas    SO      Mt. Lebanon     136.35
24. Jacob, Nolan  FR Central Catholic 135.50
25. Gable, John  JR Gateway  134.15
26. Sherwin, Logan FR Penn-Trafford  127.80
27. Fulton, Sarah  FR Bethel Park  124.65
28.  Plutt, Anthony  SO Bethel Park  119.65
29. Fircetz, Devin  SO Latrobe  118.25
30. Hansotte, Jon  SO Butler   103.00
31. McGill, Domenik SO Seneca Valley  101.15
32. Mears, Jake  SO Gateway    87.40