Wheaton duo dives into state finals
George Doran is a freshman at Harvard, but his presence could be felt at this year's state high school diving competition.
The former Wheaton co-op diver, who finished second at state last year, was a big influence on former teammates Mark Ciesielski and Liam McLaughlin, now competing in this year's state swimming and diving meet at Evanston Township High School.
The two Wheaton Warrenville South seniors have been keeping in touch with Doran via text messaging, and Friday they had good news for their friend and mentor.
Both of them made it to today's finals with outstanding performances in the prelims. Ciesielski is in fifth place in the standings, and McLaughlin is in eighth. Both are in position to move up a slot of two if they hit the remaining three dives on their list.
Having two members of her team make the state finals is a first for long-time Wheaton diving coach Holly Higgins who has had many qualifiers, and she gives Doran some of the credit for setting the tone for this year's stars.
“George knew how to work hard and challenge himself,” Higgins said. “And Mark and Liam worked off of that and set the bar high for what they wanted to accomplish. One or the other won every meet this year. They would just trade off championships.”
“George taught us to shoot for the stars,” Ciesielski added.
Ciesielski qualified for state last year, but McLaughlin had to wait until his senior year because there can be only be two divers per team at sectionals.
“I didn't mind the wait,” McLaughlin said. “I saw how George and Mark did their dives and how their meets went, and that helped me visualize how things were going to be when I made it. I knew I was going to be at state some day.”
According to Higgins, Cieielski, who will dive at UIC, and McLaughlin, who will continue at the University of Denver, have similar styles but very different mentalities.
“They're so alike in the way they dive that they could be a good synchronized diving duo,” Higgins said. “They're a contrast to George, who was very explosive and powerful. Mark and Liam are tall, graceful and elegant and similar in mechanics. They just float. They get the height. Today, they got serous height.”
But Higgins sees their approach to the sport as very different.
“Mark is very cerebral,” she said. “He's always in his head and he gets wound up. Liam is calm and mellow. But they both have mental toughness, and so much of diving is mental.”
Ciesielski was consistently strong throughout Friday's competition, while McLaughlin had to overcome two less-than-perfect dives at the beginning of his set.
“Mark was clean, strong and aggressive off the board,” Higgins said. “But Liam gave us a run for our money. He came back from those first two dives and nailed his inward double and his back dive. He got huge points on the inward double.”
Ciesielski, who stands at 288.10 points, needs to make up four points to catch Downers Grove South's Ryan Kujawa for fourth place, and McLaughin is at 285.70 points, within a fraction of a point and a little over a point behind the seventh- and sixth-place divers.
“My goal is just to give it my all tomorrow and hit all three dives,” McLaughlin said. “It feels great just making it to the finals. That has been my dream since I started diving.”
“My harder dives are in those last three, and I'm really feeling good about them,” Ciesielski said. “The boards have been working for me lately, and we've been working on those dives a lot in practice. And it's great having a teammate like Liam here to share this with. We push each other and we support each other.”