Save the best for last.
Evergreen senior Kian Smith finished fifth last year, and came into state behind multiple favorites, but until the finals happen, everyone is equal at zero. After 11 dives, he was crowned the 4A CHSAA State Diving Champion with a final mark of 432.10.
It wasn’t until the final two dives that Smith pulled to the top of the leaderboard.
“I knew I was super close with the top three,” Smith said. “I was just watching and trying to keep my mindset on consistency. Even if they weren’t the best dives, I wanted to keep the most consistent dives.”
Smith has trained with last year’s record setter, Denver North’s Jack Ryan. He has also trained with runner-up, Thompson Valley senior George Smack.
Until the final round, Smack led the field. He was called for two incomplete dives to begin the final, opening the door for both Smith and George Washington junior Coleden Vicars. Luckily for the eventual winner, he got the final say — down just under 20 heading into his final chance, where he nailed down a 36.8.
“I’ve preached it to my team all year, because we’ve been in (George’s) spot,” Evergreen coach Brett Brinkhoff said. “We’ve had a great meet going, and then you have one bad dive and it takes the rest of the meet out of you. I just always preached consistency — we don’t need something huge on the board, just stay consistent and he put it together.”
Smith came into Evergreen’s program as a gymnast. After last year’s fifth-place finish, he knew the swap was working out, he just needed to work harder.
For three hours a day, he hit the gym all offseason. He didn’t miss practices, and he kept trimming away the fat of his dive portfolio. Once he entered state, Smith didn’t have a bevy of top-scoring dive blueprints, but a swath of dives he knew he could execute in a pinch.
Evergreen doesn’t have some unique training facility either. It practices on a board lower than regulation for just an hour a day. Smith found other ways to aid his growth.
“Last year, there were a lot of club divers I was with, and I realized I needed to work more,” Smith said. “I tried to make sure and put in as much work as I could into it. I did extra physical training and trampoline work to execute the basics of diving too, rather than just the big tricks. It made everything much easier.”
Adding to their hardware haul was a Diver of the Year nod for Smith and Coach of the Year title for Brinkhoff, as voted on by the coaches at the state meet. Teammate, freshman Carson Harrington also tallied a third-place finish.