P-R diver Shaw earns bronze medal in WPIAL championships, qualifies for states

One year after finishing eighth at the WPIAL Class AAA boys diving championships, Pine-Richland's Austin Shaw vaulted up the standings and earned the bronze medal Saturday at North Allegheny.

Shaw's score of 467.40 trailed only Fox Chapel's Jonah Cagley, who won with a score of 525.20, and runner-up Owen Johns of Mt. Lebanon (494.40).

While earning third place looks nice on Shaw's WPIAL diving resume, his coach believes this could just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to fulfilling his potential on the boards.

“I'm extremely proud of Austin and he was great, but I feel like it was not even his best possible meet,” coach Maria Misenhelter said. “I've seen him do better in dual competition. His first eight dives were OK, but they weren't his best. He always does this, where at the end of the competition, he turns it up and really hits on his last few dives.

“I still think we have a lot more to bring out in him. He keeps improving, and I expect that to keep up going forward here.”

Shaw said he and his coach decided to save his favorite three dives for a final push up the scoreboard. The trio of go-to dives comprised the back double, back two-and-a-half twister and inward double.

“Those aren't quite the easy ones,” Shaw said. “I usually like throwing the harder dives. I'm not as good with my voluntaries. I come from a motocross background, so I have, I guess, a crazier mentality. I'm always excited for the harder dives.”

By saving the dives with a higher degree of difficulty for last, Shaw did, indeed, climb the leaderboard and earned a spot in the PIAA championships at Bucknell on March 17.

“My goal was to make states, and hopefully by getting to states I'd be able to get my name out there a little bit more,” Shaw said. “I think I definitely achieved that goal. I would've loved to move up to second place, but Owen and Jonah were definitely on point.”

Kevin Lohman is a freelance writer.