About High School Dive

Previous-season reference. Information below is preserved from the old team site. Dates, eligibility rules, qualification standards, and district references need confirmation for the new season.

High school swim and dive operate as a singular competition. Consequently, both the swim and dive teams face off against the same schools during the same meets. The season kicks off with seven dual meets, including six Liberty District opponents and one out-of-district opponent. Depending on the venue of the meet, diving events take place either before or concurrently with the swimming events, contingent upon the pool's dimensions. Points from both swim and dive events are cumulatively tallied to determine the meet scores for both the girls' and boys' swim and

dive teams.

District / Regional Alignment

McLean High School is in the Liberty District in Region D (the Northern Region) of the Virginia High School League as of 2021.

Dual Meets

The structure of dual meets can be somewhat intricate. At each meet, divers are mandated to execute one voluntary dive and five optional dives, bringing the total to six dives per meet. Voluntary dives usually encompass the more basic ones: front, back, reverse, or inward dives. The optional dives can be any from the list, with the caveat that they shouldn't replicate the voluntary dive chosen.

For instance, if a diver opts for a front dive as their voluntary, they can pick from back, reverse, inward dives, or any other from the Virginia High School League's official list of dives for their optionals. To add a twist, the designated voluntary dive rotates each week. In the first meet, it's the front dive; the second meet requires a back dive, followed by an inward dive in the third, a twister in the fourth, and a reverse in the fifth. This rotation persists for the duration of the dual meet season.

If you're doing the math, you'll note a slight discrepancy: while there are only five dive categories, divers must perform six. The silver lining is that the voluntary dive stands apart from the optional ones. Thus, of the five optional dives, they should span at least four categories, excluding the one chosen for the voluntary dive.

While this might sound convoluted, the coach is well-versed in the format and consistently educates the divers throughout the season to ensure clarity.

For those acquainted with the NVSL diving's judging format, you'll find it mirrors high school diving. Five parent judges are engaged: two representing the home team and three from the visiting side. Each judge assigns a score for every dive. To counteract any potential biases, the highest and lowest scores are discarded. The remaining three scores are then aggregated and multiplied by the dive's assigned degree of difficulty. Every dive carries a unique degree of difficulty, which is derived from how challenging it is to execute. There exists a comprehensive formula to ascertain this degree for each dive, though it's too intricate to detail here. However, it's essential to understand that dives with higher difficulty levels get a more significant multiplier applied to their scores. This system encourages divers to attempt and master the more challenging dives.

By adding up the total scores for each dive, a diver's final score is obtained, dictating their overall ranking. It's worth noting, however, that diving is considered a singular event in the meet — specifically, Event #9 for boys and Event #10 for girls. Hence, its scoring aligns with the methodology used for individual swimming events.

Championship Meets

The format for the championship meets are completely different than the dual meets, yet they are scored the same way. In districts, regions, and states the divers perform 11 dives rather than the six performed in dual meets. Of these dives, five are voluntary dives and six optional. Thus, divers must do two dives from each group - front, back, reverse, inward, and twister. and they must do three dives from one of those five groups. There is a very specific sequencing of the dives that must be adhered to and the field of competitors gets cut after the 5th and 8th rounds.

McLean Diving Tradition

Coming soon.