Fort Lauderdale senior James Boardman won his third straight state championship by capturing the Class 3A 1-meter diving competition with 576.75 points at the FHSAA swimming and diving competition at the FAST (Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training) facility in Ocala on Friday night.
He finished 13 points ahead of runner-up Fletcher senior and FSU-bound Maxwell Shaver (563.70) and Lake Buena Vista senior Nathan Frette (513.75).
“The difference between me and my competition is that I have been diving a lot longer than they have,” Boardman said by phone. After placing fourth at state in his freshman year, he’s been undefeated the past three years. He even added a national championship in the Junior Olympics on the platform during the summer.
“Success comes from the hard work I have put in over the years,” Boardman added. “Having the former 2A and 4A diving champions in the same region as me, made winning states that much more special.”
Boardman trailed Shaver in the competition heading into his final two dives.
“It kind of put some pressure on me,” Boardman said. “I just went into a corner and figured out what I had to do the last two dives, and I did it. I did the math.”
They were the only three to break 500 points at the meet. Shaver was a two-time Class 4A champion, while Frette was a two-time defending Class 2A champion. Because of enrollment, Fletcher dropped down to 3A from 4A, and Lake Buena Vista moved up a classification.
Boardman captured his third straight diving title, tying Cardinal Gibbons’ Zach Allen (2014-16) with three. South Plantation’s Logan Downey (2013-16) won four straight, while Pine Crest’s Kevin Mendez leads the state with the most repeat titles (in any sport) as he won five straight diving championships from 2016-20.
“I am so happy for him,” said Fort Lauderdale swim coach Adam Drucker. “James is amazing. He had that level of maturity to find a way to win and I think this was his best effort because he beat two, two-time defending champions and good competition to do it.
“He has a wealth of experience being the national champion in the platform and representing the United States in the Worlds in Brazil in October.”
St. Thomas Aquinas senior Gabriel Tortola took fourth in the 3A boys’ 100 fly (49.45) and eighth in the 200 free (1:42.04) while fellow Raiders’ senior Alex Mansur was fifth in the 100 free with a (46.25).
St. Thomas Aquinas 400 free relay was fifth (3:09.97), while the 200 free relay (1:28.03) placed seventh.
St. Thomas Aquinas finished seventh in the boys’ competition with 80 points. Nease won the competition with 281 points.
“All of our guys swam best times,” said Raiders coach Duffy Dillon, who spent nearly two decades at Cardinal Gibbons before moving to Colorado in 2017. He returned in August to coach the Raiders. “The meet was fast and even though they swam better times than last year, their placings were lower. I am still proud of their effort. It was a lot of fun.”
Herek takes fifth in state 50 free at Class 4A swim meet
Stoneman Douglas senior Lorenzo Herek logged a season-best 20.73 to place fifth in the 50 free, just one spot ahead of Wellington sophomore Julian Granison (20.84) at the Class 4A state meet on Saturday night. Granison was fifth in the 100 free (45.42) as he dropped 1.24 seconds off his previous best time.
Cypress Bay sophomore Jacob Drysdale was sixth in the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 342.45.
Jupiter sophomore Charles Howard was eighth in both the boys’ 200 free (1:42.15) and 100 butterfly (49.76).
Wellington junior Andreas Da Silva was fourth in the 100 back (49.39), as the Wellington boys placed seventh at the state meet with 117 points. Braddock won the state title with 306 points and Boca Raton was 17th with 29 points.
The Wellington boys 200 free relay was third with a clocking of 1:25.63, while Western was third in the 400 free relay (3:18.67).
The Class 1A and Class 2A swimming competitions will be held next week.