SBHS grad Jason Andrade battles back to claim first place in
3-meter dive event
HOLLISTER
Following his preliminary dive at the Big West Conference Championships in Long Beach last month, former Haybaler Jason Andrade described himself as a “red tomato” — not the choice of fruit anyone wants to look like after a three-meter dive.
“I basically flopped on my shoulder and my face,” said Andrade, who graduated from San Benito High in 2005 and is currently a junior at UC Davis. “It was a difficult dive, but those hurt when you miss them.”
The pressure of the big stage may have gotten to Andrade, who didn’t start diving until his freshman year of high school. But the difficult prelim dive, despite leaving Andrade red all over, provided enough points to qualify him toward the finals.
And that’s where Andrade, who opted for a front three and a half dive in both the prelims and finals, did a complete 180.
After scoring a 188.9 in prelims, which placed him in sixth place overall, Andrade scored nearly 100 points better in the finals when he recorded a 277.05 to finish in first place at the Belmont Olympic Pool in Long Beach, and finish as the Big West champ.
“I dove my complete worst in prelims, finishing in sixth place,” Andrade said. “But it’s kind of neat to make those adjustments.
“This is easily my biggest accomplishment this year … the highlight of my college career.”
Andrade edged out teammate Paul Navo for the title, the fellow Aggie scoring a 263.45 in his second dive. But with the prelims-to-finals scores not additive, all Andrade had to do was qualify to the championship round, as well as completely forget about his performance in prelims.
“In prelims, I got caught up in the whole pressure of the competition,” Andrade said. “Diving isn’t like a team sport; it’s purely individual. When you spend the whole season on the same dive, there’s a mental aspect as well.”
And when Andrade narrowly cracked the top eight in prelims, which allowed him to advance to finals — Andrade’s degree of difficulty was a 2.8, while most of the competition was diving at a 2.4 — the former Baler tried to start over with a clean slate.
“I threw everything in prelims out the door,” he said.
The UC Davis junior tried to forget about his earlier performance. He received a pep talk from his coach, and even went as far as changing his Speedo prior to the finals, as if to rid himself of any bad vibes.
And with expectations high — he believed he could make top three — Andrade leapfrogged the competition with one leap in the finals, nearly setting a personal record in the process. To top it off, he finished second on the one-meter dive board, while the Aggies compiled 958.5 team points and defeated UC Santa Barbara for the Big West title.
“Prelims, everything went wrong,” Andrade said. “It’s just about getting in a groove and staying on that high point.”
