Out of the hundreds of athletes at San Benito High, senior Dakota Nix is truly a one-of-a-kind talent. Nix is the lone varsity diver on the swimming-diving team, and he’s no ordinary Joe. Nix has qualified to the Central Coast Section Championships every year, finishing in 16th place as a freshman and 13th place as a sophomore.
“This year I think a top-5 finish (in CCS) is reasonable,” he said.
Even though diving is still a niche sport at the high school level—most schools don’t have a diving team per se—the number of divers at the prep level is growing. Nix opened up the season with a six-dive performance off a 1-meter springboard at San Benito High on March 10.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound Nix opened up with a forward ½ somersault pike, and finished with a back dive straight. Nix’s first dive was his best, while his last one left something to be desired.
“I really felt I could have done that one better,” he said.
Nix said he under-rotated on his third dive, a back somersault pike. Nix’s inner critic has him poised for his best season ever. Like all high-achieving athletes, Nix takes to instruction well and is eager to take the necessary steps to improve.
Nix is one of the several standouts on the San Benito swimming and diving team this season.
The program is smaller compared to past years, but it still has 46 athletes on the roster, 29 girls. The Balers graduated several senior standouts, but did return plenty of talent. On the girls side, senior Shannon Stephens leads the way after competing in last year’s CCS Championships.
Stephens is a versatile swimmer, able to go fast in the 100 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 100 free. Juniors Lauren Klauer (200 individual medley, 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast stroke) and Lily Jeske (50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 back) and sophomores Catherine Nordstrom (freestyle, breast stroke), Michaela Krulee (200 IM, 100 butterfly) and Amber Logue (200 free, fly, backstroke) are expected to produce fast times.
Freshman Elizabeth Fleming is in swimming competition again for the first time in five years, but she’s already displayed form beyond her years.
“Elizabeth has stood out in that she’s long and a natural swimmer,” Balers coach Fred Latimore said. “Lily will be strong in the butterfly, and Catherine can do several different events because she’s versatile.”
On the boys side, some key returnees include sophomores Gordan Rianda (200 individual medley, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke), Ben Smith (butterfly), Ryan Okubo (backstroke, freestyle), Zander Bonnet (200 IM, 200 free, 100 free, backstroke) and Josh Corrigan (50 free, 100 butterfly, 100 free).
Corrigan also might do the 500 free, the longest event in high school swimming. Freshman Connor Murphy has also shown tremendous potential in the freestyle and backstroke events.
“All the freshman and sophomores swim club and are pretty talented,” Latimore said. “Ryan is a natural back stroker, and he comes from a long line of swimmers.”
Although Nix’s best event is off the springboard, he might also compete in some freestyle events during the season to help the team gain extra points. Of course, it’s diving where Nix excels. In the season-opening diving meet on March 10, Nix was supposed to be away for competition. However, since Notre Dame-Salinas and Palma didn’t have any divers, Nix was able to compete at home.
Nix gained valuable experience in the off-season working out at the George Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara.
Under the guidance of Pat Haley, Nix gained more confidence in his dives and overall ability to execute in any situation.
“Pat really helped me work on my form,” Nix said. “Things like certain techniques of approaching the board really helped a lot. Most of the time now my approach and dives are muscle memory.”
Nix grew up competing in gymnastics, which has made his transition to diving four years ago a seamless one. Both disciplines involve explosive, ballistic movements, and athletes have to be very flexible. That’s why Nix spends plenty of time at home stretching and working on his flexibility.
Although Nix has CCS championship aspirations, his ultimate goal is to leave an indelible mark to future potential divers at San Benito. There are a couple of other beginner divers on the team, and Nix is hoping more will follow.
“I really want people to come out here and continue to keep the team going,” said Nix, who also had a standout season as the goalie on the water polo team last fall. “I don’t want to leave and have the swim team not have a dive team.”
