Gould, Sims compete in diving regional tonight at Zionsville

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- Two county divers made quite the splash at Saturday's Crawfordsville sectional, and will be back in action tonight at the Zionsville Diving Regional.

South Putnam Junior Sam Gould finished second with 304.75 points, following by Greencastle's Matthew Sims with 280.65.

Eagle senior Thomas Butts placed ninth with 188.00, followed by freshman teammate Tyler Neumann in 11th with 177.00.

The first eight of eleven dives started off the sectional at 9:30 a.m. The prelims went through the first five of the dives, and the semifinals were dives six through eight.

At the end of the morning session, Gould and Sims were holding second and third places, respectively. Butts was eighth at the break, and Neumann kept consistent in eleventh place.

South Putnam diving coach Matthew Edwards made note that, "For a freshmen to come in and be so consistent with 11 dives is great. I have really big hopes for him in the future."

In Sectional diving, the top four divers advance to regional. Going into the finals, it looked as if two of the county divers would be advancing which held true.

Edwards proudly stated, "We worked really hard the past few weeks. They knew what they had to do today, and we came in today knowing that half of it is just mental. They had confidence in themselves. They came in with good attitudes and all three of them did tremendous. They all had good attitudes and all hit their dives. And, really, I couldn't be more proud."

Gould not only ended up in second place, but on a more personal note, he broke the South Putnam diving record with his score of 304.75.

Sims held his position to place third and also advance, finishing with a score of 280.65.

Greencastle Diving Coach Chris Klinger noted, "Matthew had placed fourth last year as a freshmen. This year he improved and placed third. This step up is fantastic. Matthew has been diving since sixth grade and has talent and a background in gymnastics. I feel the background in gymnastics has helped him tremendously.

"We were also very happy with how he performed since he had been sick for a while during part of the season," Klinger added. "Matthew is looking into year round training to help him in his quest for improvement in his future."

Gould and Sims will be diving at Zionsville High School at 6 p.m. today. Any divers that advance from the regional will dive Saturday starting at 9 a.m.