Sam Gould's season ends at diving regional

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Eagle diver Sam Gould placed 14th at Tuesday's Brownsburg Diving Regional.

BROWNSBURG -- One moment can change everything.

For South Putnam diver Sam Gould, that moment was not a positive one Tuesday night.

Sitting eighth in the diving regional competition, one bad dive took him out of contention to advance to this weekend's IHSAA State Finals. The senior finished 14th in the competition with a score of 217.

"He started off pretty strong. The first round went OK," Eagle coach Matthew Edwards said. "Unfortunately, his eighth dive he kind of bombed. He didn't fail it, but scored about a point and a half, which kind of killed it."

In his second trip to regional, Gould had designs on taking the next step to the state finals, but it was not to be.

"Senior year -- everybody wants to go to state, but unfortunately it's just part of it," Edwards said.

The future is still bright for Gould, though, as he plans to join older brother Jake as a Rose-Hulman student. He also plans to dive for the Engineers.

"Fortunately it's not the end of the road for him. He's planning on going to Rose-Hulman and diving for them next year," Edwards said.

The coach has high hopes for his athlete, believing he will take this experience and grow.

"He definitely learned from this experience. One dive changed everything, and that's part of the sport," Edwards said.