boardworks
news
The World Cup is the last
opportunity for the Canadian diving team to secure 2012
Olympic spots� says Scott Cranham, high performance director
at Diving Canada. �The pressure will be high on our divers
and coaches, but the team is filled with veterans who have a
great deal of international experience on the world stage.”
Canadian divers qualified six (6) Olympic quota spots at the
2011 World Aquatic Championships in Shanghai, last July, and
have their sights sets on the remaining six (6) at this
World Cup.
Entries that Canada has yet to qualify include;
� 1 Team entry � Women�s 10m Synchro
� 1 Team entry � Men�s 3m Synchro
� 1 Team entry � Men�s 10m Synchro
� 1 Individual entry � Men�s 10m
� 2 Individual entries � Men�s 3m
Last weekend at the German Diving Grand Prix, the Canadian
team collected three medals and welcomed Alexandre Despatie
back to international competition after a12 month lay-off
due to injury. �Our results in Rostock were positive. We
finished on the podium in three Olympic events, and also
gained some important competition experience for Alex and
Reuben on Men�s 3m synchro,� said Cranham. �Although
positives were taken from Rostock, we know overall we can do
better and it is time to fine-tune our programs. This week
at our Berlin-based training camp, the team is undergoing
some final adjustments so we can make the most of our
opportunities at the World Cup and for London 2012,� added
Cranham.
McCormick, who qualified an Olympic berth for Canada in the
Men’s 10 metre event last summer at the World Championships
in Shanghai, hopes to equal or better his 8th place result
at that competition next week in London.
For more information about
the Fina World Cup, please visit
www.diving.ca or
www.londonpreparesseries.com/diving/index.html.
BRASSET NAMED
SPEEDO STING TOP MALE DIVER
February 14, 2012 – Twelve year old
Boardworks diver Isaiah Brasset was named Top Male Diver at
the 2012 Marc LePoole’s Speedo Sting in Victoria last
weekend. Brasset, a Junior National bronze medallist
in 2010, swept all three events in the Boys 12-13 year old
competition, surpassing his competitors from Calgary,
Winnipeg and Vancouver. This was Brasset’s first
competition of the 2011-12 season and his results at the
Sting are promising for the coming year.
Brasset’s teammate and Canadian Junior National Team member
Emily Schmidt also won three gold medals at the Sting.
The Sting was a good warm up for Schmidt who is traveling to
Montreal next month hoping to earn a place on the Canadian
Team heading Dresden, Germany in April for the Dresden Youth
International diving competition.
For complete Speedo Sting results, click here.
McCormick Readies
for World Championships
July 19, 2011,
Shanghai – For Victoria’s Riley McCormick, the 2011 World
Aquatic Championships in Shanghai is the first step towards
his goal of qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
A The Worlds is the first of three opportunities this season
McCormick, a 2008 Olympian, has to qualify an Olympic spot
for Canada on the Men’s 10 metre, his specialty.
McCormick is taking a break
this season from his studies at Arizona State University to
return to Victoria and train full time with Boardworks Head
Coach Tommy McLeod in preparation for 2012. After
battling a variety of injuries this past season which forced
him out of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi last
October, McCormick is eager to get back into top form.
The Men’s 10 metre preliminaries takes place on Saturday,
July 23rd. Visit
www.fina.org for more information
A Golden Sweep for
Schmidt
July 12, 2011, MONTREAL � Victoria’s Emily Schmidt claimed
her third gold medal at the 2011 Speedo Junior National
Diving Championships this past weekend in Pointe-Claire,
Quebec. The 13- year old from Boardworks finished 20
points ahead of the second place finisher Lindsay Leonard on
Montreal in the Girls C Platform event Saturday earning her
third national title.
”I’ve never won all three before,” she said. ”The tower
is an event I’m getting better at every time out.”
Schmidt previously won the
Girls C 1 metre and 3 metre events and will represent Canada
in September at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Medellin,
Colombia.
Boardworks also claimed two
more medals at the competition Sunday with Aidan Faminoff
winning a silver medal in the Boys C Platform and National
Team member Rachel Kemp winning bronze in the Girls A
Platform event. Earlier in the weekend 10 year old
Bryden Hattie won his first National medal claiming silver
in the Boys 11 & under platform event
For complete event results please click
here.
May 30, 2011, ROSTOCK, Germany �
Given his emphasis on his schooling this winter in the Pac
10 at Arizona State, Olympian Riley McCormick of Victoria
was delighted with his ninth-place finish Sunday on the
men�s 10-metre tower to conclude the fifth stop on the FINA
Grand Prix circuit in diving.
Chen Aisen of China won the gold medal, with Sasha Klein of
Germany second and Gleb Galperin of Russia third.
McCormick started the day placing seventh in the
preliminaries, then placed fourth in the semifinals. The top
three from each of the two semifinals advance to the
championship round.
�I�ve been training hard the last four weeks and I felt
really good,�� said McCormick, a 2008 Beijing Summer
Olympian.
�I feel like I�m getting my rhythm back. The field here was
very strong and it was a big challenge to crack the top
three in either semi today.��
McCormick wanted to gain some steam at this event after
qualifying this month for the 10-metre event for the FINA
World Aquatic Championships in Shanghai July 16-31.
�I just have to continue what I�m doing to keep getting
better,�� he said.
McCormick and Canada�s other top divers will be back in
action later this week at the Summer Senior National
Championships June 2-5 in Edmonton.
Copyright Times Colonist 2011
Boardworks Divers Kick off Season with Medals
December 13, 2010 – The 2010/11
diving season got off to a promising start for Boardworks divers this
past weekend at the 2010 Camo International Invitational in Montreal.
Emily Schmidt lead the way with a gold and a silver medal in the Girls
13 & under 1 metre and platform events respectively, successfully
defeating divers from accross Canada, the United States, Germany, Japan
and Great Britain. National silver medallist Aidan Faminoff was
the top Canadian finisher in the Boys 13 & under 1 metre and 3 metre
events where he placed 6th in both events.
The highlight of the weekend
though was the bronze medal from Fraser McKean in the Men’s
Open Platform event. McKean, 19, was sidelined for most of
last season due to a serious back injury. Months of
rehab, hard work in the gym and pool, combined with
limitless determination proved that McKean is back in top
form for the coming season. For complete
results, click
here.
Boardworks
Celebrates Its Success
December 6, 2010 –
Boardworks celebrated the achievements of it’s athletes over
the past season on December 4 at their annual awards night.
Triple Junior National gold medalist Shane Miszkiel was
named Top Junior Male Diver for 2010. Miszkiel
also set a National record en route to his gold medal sweep
at the Canadian Junior Nationals last July in Winnipeg.
The Top Junior Female Diver award was presented to
Emily Schmidt, who won two gold and one silver medal at
Junior Nationals and was 6 time Provincial champion last
season. Top Rookie honours went to Graham
Goodfellow who won 4 provincial bronze medals and earned his
Junior National qualifying score for Boys D 1 metre in his
first year on the team.
Winners of the Riley
McCormick Award, which are presented to the surprise
male and female results of the season, were Isaiah Brasset
and Shaye Tudor. Brasset won a silver medal at the
2010 Junior Nationals in the Boys D platform event, while
Tudor won a bronze medal in the Girls D Platform event.
Emily Schmidt
Top Junior Female 2010
Graham Goodfellow
Top Rookie
Shaye Tudor & Isaiah Brasset
Riley McCormick Awards
Kemp to Attend
Commonwealth Games in India
October 1, 2010 – Last May Boardworks diver Rachel Kemp
thought her dream of attending the XIX Commonwealth Games in
Delhi, India was over. After suffering a serious
shoulder injury at the USA Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale,
she wasn’t able to compete in her best event, the Women’s 10
metre, at the Commonwealth Games Trials in Saskatoon in
June, giving up any chance of making the team.
Kemp, 17, underwent extensive physical therapy in her
shoulder throughout June and was well enough in July to
qualify for a spot on Canada’s World Junior Championship
team competing in September in Tucson. She placed 5th
in Tucson after which she took a two week vacation, thinking
her season was over.
While on holidays she received a call from Diving Canada
asking if she would be able to be a last minute replacement
in Delhi for injured Montreal diver Meaghan Benfeito.
Kemp jumped at the opportunity and immediately got back in
the pool to get ready for the Games.
“There are very few people who could prepare for a major
event such as Commonwealth games so quickly, but Rachel is
known for her ability to be ready for anything.” says Kemp’s
coach and Boardworks Head Coach, Tommy McLeod.
Kemp burst onto the
international diving scene at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in
Melbourne at the age of 13, where she placed 6th in the
Women’s 10 metre event. Since then she has been one of
Canada’s best and most consist women’s platform divers, most
recently placing 4th at the Canada Cup Fina Grand Diving
Prix in Montreal last April.
.
The
competition starts September 1. For more information about the 2010 Fina
World Junior Diving Championships, please click
here
Miszkiel, who scored 489.15
points, trailed silver medallist Marc Sabourin-Germain of
Montreal going into the final round of dives and needed the
dive of his career to move into the top spot. Miszkiel
drilled is inward 3 1/2 tuck for 8’s and 8.5’s enabling him
to claim is third gold medal of the competition.
On Friday he broke the men’s
16-18 1-metre national record, twice, to claim his second
gold medal of the competition after winning gold in the 3
metre event on Thursday.
”I can hardly talk right now I’m so relieved, so happy,”
said Miszkiel following his platform event. ”I didn’t think
this was possible. It was a bigger challenge mentally than
physically sticking in there for three days through prelims
and finals. It was a real battle.”
Miszkiel, in his final year
of junior diving, will close out his junior diving career
representing Canada at the Fina World Junior Diving
Championships this September in Tucson, Arizona.
Joining Miszkiel in Tucson
will be his Boardworks teammate and Senior National team
member Rachel Kemp. Kemp finished second Sunday in
another close competition in the Girls 16-18 platform event
to earn her spot on the World Junior team. The result
was a bit of a surprise considering three weeks ago she
wasn’t even sure she would be competing at this event after
sustaining a major should injury at the USA Grand Prix in
May.
Kemp also won a bronze medal
in the Girls 16-18 3-metre event Friday.
Boardworks’ Emily Schmidt
claimed two gold and one silver medal in Winnipeg winning
gold in the Girls 12-13 1-metre and platform events and
winning silver on 3-metre after battling back from 18th
position after her first 3 dives.
”My reverse one and half and
my compulsories were my best dives,” said Schmidt after her
one- metre event. ”I really wanted to be on the national
team and I had to get myself focused, I listened to my coach
and did really well.
Outstanding Boardworks
performances also came from first time national medallists
Isaiah Brasset who won silver in the Boys 11& under platform
event, Shaye Tudor who won bronze in the Girls 11 & under
platform event and Junior National team member Aidan
Faminoff who placed second the Boys 12-13 platform event
with an amazing final dive to claim silver.
For complete 2010 Speedo
Junior National results, please click
here.
Weller, a native of North
Vancouver, relocated to Victoria almost two years ago to
train with Boardworks Head Coach Tommy McLeod. Her
rise to the top has been fast considering she only took up
the sport four short years ago. In addition to winning
several Junior National medals in the past two years, Weller
finished an impressive 4th place in the Women’s 3 metre
event and then claimed a silver medal with Kemp in the 3
metre synchro event last January at the Winter National
Championships.
Seventeen year old Miszkiel
started with Boardworks at the age of five with Boardworks’
OlympicGarten program and has been on a steady path to
success since then. With over 18 junior national
medals to his name and two senior national medals in the
past year, Miszkiel is ready for the challenge of the senior
ranks.
Also breaking into the junior
international diving scene is fourteen year old Courtney
Hattie, a 4 time Junior National medallist and surprise
bronze medallist at the 2009 Canada Summer Games in PEI last
August. Hattie will join Weller and Miszkiel next
month at the Amsterdam Cup, a prestigious junior diving
competition in the Netherlands.
For more information about
the 2010 Canada Cup please click
here.
McCormick’s next stop is the
2010 Canada Cup Fina Diving Grand Prix in Montreal, April 29
– May 2. Click
here for more Canada Cup information.
McCormick Heads to NCAA
Championships
March 13, 2010 –
Boardworks’ Riley McCormick dominated the Men’s 10 metre platform event
at the Zone E NCAA qualifying event to put himself in contention for the
NCAA platform title March 25 – 27 in Columbus, Ohio. McCormick, a
2008 Olympian, is a freshman at Arizona State University and is
currently ranked eighth in the world in the event. He scored an
incredible 905.4 points, almost 170 points more than his ASU teammate
Constatin Blaha.
Boardworks Shane Miszkiel, last
year’s bronze medallist was 5th.
In the Women’s 3-metre event
Boardworks’ Morgan Weller earned a career best 4th place
finish earning a personal-best national score of 289.75.
Weller’s teammate and silver medal winning synchro partner
Rachel Kemp was 6th with 270.15. The event was won by
two-time Olympic medallist and World Championship silver
medallist Emilie Heymans of Montreal.
Silver for Kemp
at Nationals
Jan 30, 2010, Toronto –
Consistency was the key for 15 year old Boardworks diver
Rachel Kemp today at the Canadian Winter National Diving
Championships in Toronto. Kemp was second through the
preliminary and semi-final rounds and maintained that
position in the finals, claiming the silver medal behind
champion Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal.
Kemp burst onto the national
diving scene in 2006 at the age of 12 when she was the
youngest national medallist and youngest member of the
Canadian Commonwealth Games team. In the past 4 years
she has consistently placed in the medals at the National
Championships, as well as earning several top 4 finishes at
Fina Grand Prix events.
Kemp also won silver today in
the Women’s 3 metre synchro event with partner and
Boardworks teammate Morgan Weller. The duo who
recently paired up, were consistent throughout the event and
show a lot of promise for the future.
In other news, Boardworks’
Riley McCormick, a 2008 Olympian on platform, proved he
isn’t just a 10 metre specialist anymore. McCormick placed
a respectable 4th in the Men’s 3 metre event in Toronto,
while Victoria’s Shane Miszkiel placed 5th.
McCormick, who is currently
on scholarship at Arizona State University, is a three-time
Men’s 10 metre national champion and he will defend his
national title tomorrow afternoon. Miszkiel, 16, who
was last year’s bronze medallist on 10 metre will join
McCormick. Rachel Kemp and Morgan Weller will compete
Sunday
in the Women’s 3 metre event. Kemp is the defending
bronze medallist in this event.
For live event results
click
here.
Miszkiel, who has spent much of his career in the shadow of
his Boardworks teammate and 2008 Olympian Riley McCormick,
showed he is also a future Olympic hopeful.
“Shane has really taken on a
leadership role with the Junior National team and is really
prepared to move into the senior ranks this coming season”,
says Boardworks Head Coach Tommy McLeod. “His results
last year, both nationally and internationally, have
really demonstrated his potential for the future.”
Coming up for Miszkiel in the
2010 season is the 2009 Camo International Invitational in
Montreal in December which is also the Trials for the Senior
Grand Prix events this winter as well as the Winter Senior
Nationals in Toronto in January. In his last season of
junior diving Miszkiel also hopes to qualify to represent
Canada for a third time at the World Junior Diving
Championships in Tucson, Arizona September 2010.
Victoria’s Aidan Faminoff, Boys
11 & under national champion, placed 5th in the Boys 11 &
under 3 metre event in a tough field.
“Overall I am really happy with
my result, although I have a lot of work to do to break into
the medals” said Faminoff.
By Cleve Dheensaw, Times Colonist
[email protected]
� Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
McCormick Aims
for Career Best at Worlds
July 17 – Boardworks
Riley McCormick is ready to complete against the world’s
best this coming week at the World Aquatic Championships in
Rome, Italy. The 17 year old just came off a
record-setting performance at the Speedo Junior Nationals
last week in his home pool in Victoria and hopes to improve
on his 11th place finish at the 2007 World Championships in
Melbourne. In the past two years McCormick has been
ranked as high as 5th on the Fina Grand Prix circuit and
placed 16th at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Men’s 10 metre platform preliminaries start Monday, July
20th. Click
here
for more World Championship info.
Faminoff Sets Junior
Record
July 13, Victoria, BC – 10 year old Aidan Faminoff is
following in the footsteps of his teammate Riley McCormick
after having smashed the Boys D Platform record this past
weekend at the Speedo Junior National Diving Championships
at Saanich Commonwealth Place scoring 264.85 points.
Faminoff, who has been breaking records at every competition
he has attended this year, easily won the event over silver
medallist Peter Thach Mai of Montreal. Earlier in the
weekend Faminoff won the Boys D 3 metre title and finished
2nd to Mai in the boys D 1 metre event. With two golds
and a silver Faminoff was named the Top Male D diver of the
championships and earned a spot on the Pan Am Junior
Championships team which will compete in Calgary in
September.
Faminoff’s
teammate Riley McCormick capped off his junior diving career
winning the Boys A platform event Thursday in record-setting
style, scoring 581.95, beating out Boardworks Shane Miszkiel
who placed second with a score of 477.70. Miszkiel,
who was named Top Male A Diver of the meet, also won 2 golds
in the Boys A 1 metre and 3 metre events and will be joining
Faminoff in Calgary in September.
A surprise finish this past weekend was the bronze medal won
by Courtney Hattie in the Girls B platform event.
Hattie, 13, was the silver medallist in the Girls Group C
(12-13) event last year and is in her first year of the
14-15 year old age-group. Hattie’s teammates Morgan
Weller and Molly Schupbach had strong finishes in the
Girls B 3 metre event placing 3rd and 4th respectively.
Weller earned a spot on the Junior Pan Am team earlier in
the weekend by finishing 2nd in the Girls B 1 metre event.
Overall, Boardworks finished
second in the team standings to the powerful Camo team from
Montreal.
For complete event results please click
here.
“The meet in Aachen is the
biggest annual junior diving meet in the world, with about
20 nations competing. Rachel and Shane’s results show they
can compete with, and beat, the world’s best.” said
Boardworks Head Coach Tommy McLeod today from Germany.
Kemp, Miszkiel and Boardworks
teammates Riley McCormick, a finalist at the USA Grand Prix
this weekend, and Zach Nicol now head to Montreal to
compete for a spot on the team that will represent Canada at
the 2009 World Aquatic Championships in Rome this July.
For complete results for the Internationales
Lambertz-Printenspringen, please click
here.
Kemp Wins
Bronze at Junior International Competition
May 7, 2009 –
Boardworks’ Rachel Kemp won a bronze medal today at the
Internationales Lambertz-Printenspringen diving competition
in Aachen, Germany. In the preliminaries of the Girls A
group 1 metre event, Kemp, 15, qualified in second place,
behind team-mate Carol-Anne Ware of Montreal. In the
finals, Kemp finished third, 1.15 points behind silver
medallist Marion Farissier of France
and gold medallist Ware. Kemp
will also be competing in the Group A platform and 3 metre
events which will take place Saturday & Sunday
respectively.
Another Boardworks diver, Shane Miszkiel, is also competing
in Aachen in the Boys A group 1 metre, 3 metre and platform
events. MIszkiel’s events start Friday with the Boys A 1
metre event. For event schedule and results, please click
here.
Boardworks divers
Shane Miszkiel, Morgan Weller and Courtney Hattie
and coach Lisa Boog were part of a 26 member
Canadian delegation that departed for Xi’an, China
March 28th for an 8 day training camp at the Shaanxi
Provincial Training Centre.
�The goal of this
China camp is to build upon our technical knowledge
as well as expose the athletes and coaches to the
training methods and culture of a nation that is
well-known for developing Olympic champion divers,�
says Scott Cranham, DPC�s High Performance Director.
A second group of Boardworks divers, including
Fraser McKean, Aidan Faminoff and May Wang were part
of another junior elite camp in Montreal, April 3
-5. Lead by Olympic coach and Diving Plongeon
Canada’s new Head Coach, Michel Larouche, this camp
included workshops on flexibility, relaxation,
mental imagery, ballet and educational sessions on
doping control.
The up and coming Canadian divers at both camps are
products of Diving Canada�s new talent
identification system and were selected by a panel
of domestic experts using objective criteria created
by DPC�s High Performance Director and National Head
Coach.
McCormick 5th
at 2009 Fina Grand Prix in Germany
March 2, 2009 –
2008 Olympian Riley
McCormick scored 9’s and 9.5’s on his reverse 3 1/2 to place
5th in the second Fina Grand Prix event of
the 2009 season in Rostock, Germany yesterday.
Seventeen year old McCormick, who won the Men’s National 10 metre title last month in Calgary, dove consistently
throughout the competition, only slightly missing
his back 3 1/2 pike, which is a new dive to his list
this season. Victoria’s Rachel Kemp competes
this weekend at the second Grand Prix event in
Moscow, Russia.
Medal Haul for
Boardworks at Winter National Championships
February
14, 2009 – Boardworks divers dominated day three of
the Canadian Winter National Diving Championships in
Calgary with one gold and 2 bronze medals.
2008 Olympian Riley McCormick, 17, claimed gold in
the Men’s 10 metre event, while 2008 Junior National
Champion Shane Miszkiel finished 3rd, a career best
finish for the 16 year old. In the Women’s 3
metre event, 15 year old Rachel Kemp won bronze.
Known as a platform specialist, Kemp has been
training more on 3 metre this season and it
paid off with a medal.
Competition continues Sunday with Kemp and 14 year
old Morgan Weller looking for medals in the Women’s
10 metre event. For live event results visit
www.rezman.net.
Lisa said that, of all the work
she did over the last year, the hardest part was standing in
front of the entire Canadian Diving membership and giving an
acceptance speech! In true Lisa Boog form, of course, the
speech and its delivery were excellent
For Kemp, it was an exciting end
to a long season in which she finished 5th at the Olympic
Diving Trials in June and won a gold and two silver medals
at the Speedo Junior Nationals in Thunder Bay in July.
For complete event results,
click here.
Vos and Weller
Impress in World Juniors Debut
Sept 17, 2008, Aachen
– Boardworks divers Kevin Vos and Morgan Weller turned in
personal best performances at the Fina World Junior Diving
Championships in Aachen, Germany placing 10th and 11th
respectively in the Boys 14-15 1 metre and the Girls 14-15 1
metre events.
Vos, 15, who started diving
with Boardworks at the age of 6, is competing at his first
World Junior Championships.
��I went in wanting to make
the final and put in a solid list to see how far it would
take me,�� said Vos. ��Some dives could have been better but
overall it was very good. I was nervous at the start but
settled down as the meet progressed.”
Weller, a native of North
Vancouver, has only been in the sport 3 years.
“To place 11th in her first
international competition after having only started diving
three years ago is amazing,” said Boardworks Head Coach and
2008 Olympic coach Tommy McLeod. “She certainly has a
bright future in this sport.”
Events continue through Sunday.
Boardworks
Divers to Challenge for Medals at Junior Worlds
September 8, 2008 – There is no time to
rest for Riley McCormick. Fresh off his Olympic Games
debut in Beijing last month, McCormick and four of his
Boardworks teammates are heading off to Aachen, Germany this
week to dive for medals at the 2008 World Junior Diving
Championships.
Joining McCormick is Senior
and Junior National team member Rachel Kemp, Junior National
Champions Shane Miszkiel and Kevin Vos and national silver
medallist Morgan Weller.
The Boys A 10 metre event
will be an all-Boardworks event for Canada. Both McCormick
and Miszkiel are both looking to improve on their 6th and
12th place finishes respectively at the 2006 World Junior
Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It will be the first trip to
the World Juniors for Kemp, Vos and Weller. Kemp, a
senior national team member and 206 Commonwealth Games team
member, will be competing in the Girls Group B 3 metre and
10 metre events. Vos and Weller will compete in the
Group B 1 metre events.
Boardworks Head Coach and
2008 Olympic coach Tommy McLeod will also be going to Aachen
as one of the Canadian Junior National team coaches.
Watch
www.boardworks.ca for
complete event results.
For Kemp, a Senior National
Team member who placed 5th at the Olympic Trials in June,
it will be her first World Junior Championships. She
will be competing in the Girl’s B 10 metre and 3 metre
events having placed 1st and 2nd respectively at the Speedo
Junior Nationals. Kemp will certainly be in the
medal hunt at the World Junior event having won 3 medals (gold,
silver and bronze) at the prestigious Lambertz-Springen
Junior International diving meet in Aachen last April,
competing against some of the best junior divers in the
world.
Kevin Vos left it until the
last day at the Speedo Junior Nationals to claim his spot on
the team. Having placed 4th on 3 metre and 3rd on 10
metre, Vos needed to win the 1 metre event to earn a ticket
to Germany. He easily won the event finishing well
ahead of silver medallist Austin Mix of London, Ont.
Other Boardworks divers who
delivered outstanding performances at the Junior National championships include
10-year old Aidan Faminoff, who won a silver medal in the
Boys D Platform and was 4th in both the Boys D 1 metre and 3
metre events. 11-year old May Wang, placed 2nd in the
Girls D Platform. Courtney Hattie narrowly missed out on a gold medal
in a very close and exciting Girls C platform event, placing 2nd in the
Girls C Platform. She broke team-mate Rachel Kemp’s
National Record in the process.
Molly Schupbach impressed
with a 4th place finish in the Girls B Platform, narrowly
missing out on a bronze medal and Fraser McKean finished a
heart-breaking 4th in the Boys A platform, after leading the
event through the first 3 rounds.
For complete Speedo Junior
Nationals results,
click here.
February 2012
MCCORMICK SET
SIGHTS ON LONDON
February 15, 2012 – 2008 Olympian Riley
McCormick is setting his sights on the London 2012 Olympic
Games this summer as he gets ready to compete at the Fina
Diving
World Cup next week. The World Cup is the first major
test event at the new Olympic Aquatic facility and it will
be an opportunity for the Canadian diving team to check out
the facility prior to the Games in August as well as secure
final qualifying berths for the Olympic Games next summer.January 2012
SCHMIDT NAMED A FINALIST IN SPORT
BC ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARDS
January 12, 2012 – Boardworks Emily Schmidt was named one of three
finalists in the BC Junior Athlete of the Year category for the Sport BC
Athlete of the Year Awards.Thirteen year old Schmidt swept the Girls Group C events at the 2011
Speedo Junior National Championships, winning gold in the 1 metre, 3
metre and platform events. She was named to Canada’s Junior
National team and represented Canada at the Pan Am Junior Diving
Championships in Medellin, Colombia last September where she placed 5th
in the platform event.The awards ceremony and gala dinner will take place March 8th at the
River Rock Casino in Richmond. For more information about the
Sport BC Athlete of Year Awards, presented by Telus, please click
here.July 2011
Riley McCormick 9th
At World Championships
July 24th, 2011,
SHANGHAI � Riley McCormick of Victoria matched his result
from two years ago in Rome placing ninth on men’s 10-metre
tower on Sunday to conclude the diving competition at the
FINA World Aquatic Championships.Canadian divers collected two medals over the eight days.
Jennifer Abel of Laval and Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert took
silver on three-metre synchro and Abel added a bronze in
individual three-metre. In addition Canadian divers locked
up eight Olympic spots for next year’s Games.On Sunday, Bo Qiu made it a golden sweep for China in the
diving competition collecting 585.45 points. David Boudia of
the U.S., was second at 544.25 and Sasha Klein of Germany
third at 534.50.McCormick, who earned one of those Olympic spots by making
the final, totalled 444.50 with a consistent performance.
Only his third dive had slightly lower marks than the others
which all included at least one 8.0.In the final, McCormick was bothered by an arm injury
suffered on Saturday.”I feel pretty good overall about the performance
especially with the Olympic spot,” said McCormick, 19,
already competing at his fourth worlds. ”It’s always nice
to get that out of the way early. Obviously I would have
liked to have finish a bit higher than in Rome.”McCormick has been bothered by injuries all season and his
looking forward to a more stable setting leading up to the
Olympics.”I really didn’t expect to come back from the injuries and
school commitments and place this well here,” said
McCormick. ”I’ll be based back in Victoria over the next
year and that is really going to help me a lot.”May 2011
McCormick Happy to
Surface in Ninth Spot in GermanyDecember 2010 October 2010 August 2010
Miszkiel and Kemp Set to Take on
the World
August 25, 2010 –
Boardworks divers Shane Miszkiel and Rachel Kemp will lead Team Canada
next week at the 2010 Fina World Junior Diving Championships in Tucson,
Arizona, September 1 – 6.For Kemp, already a World Junior bronze medallist in 2008, even
qualifying to compete in Tucson was a victory. After sustaining a
serious shoulder injury in May at a Grand Prix event in Florida,
competing at the Junior National Championships in Winnipeg in July, was
uncertain. But she was able to recover in time to win a silver
medal in Winnipeg and earn a spot on the World Junior team.The 2010 World Junior Championships will be a graduation of sorts for
Kemp’s teammate Shane Miszkiel. Tucson will be the third World
Junior Championships at which he has competed and will also be
the final junior competition of his career as he prepares to move on to
the senior ranks next season. Miszkiel, a triple gold medallist in
Winnipeg, will compete in all three events in Tucson and hopes to
improve upon his 18th place finish at the 2008 World Juniors in Aachen,
Germany.July 2010
Sweep for
Miszkiel at Junior Nationals
July 12, 2010 –
Boardworks’ Shane Miszkiel completed a golden sweep of all
three boards Saturday taking gold in a nail-biting final in
the men’s 16-18 platform event at the 2010 Speedo Junior
National Diving Championships July 9 – 11 in Winnipeg.April 2010
Weller and Miszkiel To Make
International Diving Debut
April 11, 2010 – The
dive tank at Saanich Commonwealth Pool is busy place these
days for two teenagers divers from Boardworks who will be
making their senior international diving debuts later this
month in Montreal. Fifteen year old Morgan Weller and
17-year old Shane Miszkiel, both accomplished junior divers,
will be joining their Boardworks teammates Rachel Kemp and
Riley McCormick at the 2010 Canada Cup Fina Diving Grand
Prix, April 29 – May 2.Both Kemp, 16, and McCormick, 18 are veterans of the senior
diving circuit and are excited for their teammates to have
this opportunity to break into the senior ranks. Kemp,
national silver medallist in both the Women’s 10 metre
platform and 3
metre synchro events, will team up with Weller in the
Women’s 3 metre synchro event. McCormick, a 2008 Olympian,
will join Miszkiel in the Men’s 3 metre synchro event.March 2010
McCormick Wins Silver at
NCAA Championships
March 28, 2010 – Victoria’s Riley McCormick
capped his freshman campaign with a stellar performance on
the 10-meter platform at the 2010 NCAA Championships in
Indiana. The Arizona Stae University freshman and 2008
Olympian scored 469.5 points in the finals to finish
runner-up on the tower. He was also second in the
preliminaries as he tallied 471.4 points. Read more…“Riley did a good job, he was very solid,” said 13th year
head coach Mark Bradshaw. “He was a little off on a couple
of dives but everything else was great. From the start, he
was on fire. Not too bad for a freshman.”January 2010
McCormick Scores Perfect 10 to Claim Fourth National
Title
Feb 1, 2010, Toronto – Riley McCormick of Boardworks earned
a perfect 10 en route to successfully defending his men�s
10-metre tower title at the Winter Nationals diving
competition which concluded on Sunday at the Etobicoke
Olympium.McCormick, 18, earned 472.55 points with Eric Sehn of
Edmonton second at 445.05 and Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg third
at 413.55. McCormick received one 10, two 9.5`s and four
9.0`s for his reverse three and half which he executed in
the fifth of six rounds. He had botched the dive in the
morning semis.��It�s always been one of my best dives,�� said McCormick.
��I was pretty frustrated to have missed it in the semis and
I came back very focused. I knew Kevin had just hit it for
8.0�s I knew I needed a good one to get back in first place.
Overall it was consistent performance.��October 2009
Silver Medal Caps Off Career Best Season
for Miszkiel
October 31, 2009 – Sixteen year old
Shane Miszkiel finished the 2008/09 diving season with a
surprise silver medal at the 2009 Pan Am Junior Diving
competition in Calgary in September. That medal caps off
a career best season for the Boardworks diver who also
claimed 2 gold medals at the Speedo Junior Nationals in
Victoria this past July and career best bronze medal
finishes in the Men’s 10 metre event at both the Senior
National championships last March and the World Championship
Trials last May.September 2009
Two Silver Medals for
Boardworks at Pan Am Junior Championships
September 12, 2009, Calgary, AB – In their competitive
debut as a synchro pair, Shane Miszkiel of Victoria and Cody
Yano of Edmonton took the silver in the Boys 3 metre synchro
event at the 2009 Pan am Junior Diving Championships in
Calgary. Miszkiel and Yano just started training
together this week for the synchro event.�We�re surprised to get the medal,�� said Miszkiel. ��The
key for us was being confident in our abilities and each
other abilities. On the last dive the adrenaline was really
rushing because we knew that if we could nail that dive we
would be in the medals.��
In the Girls 14-15 1 metre event Boardworks’ Morgan Weller
won silver in the women�s 14-15 one-metre event. Kassidy
Cook of the U.S., won the gold at 350.45, Weller was second
at 343.20 and Myriam Selmani of Montreal was third at
342.35.Weller has been battling a shoulder injury all season and
this was the best she�s felt in quite some time.�I was able to pull it together for this competition,� said
Weller, 15. �It�s so great to end a tough season on such a
high note. It was pretty difficult to come back from the
injury. It was quite painful when I competed earlier this
season but today I felt much better.�July 2009
McCormick 9th at Worlds
July 22, Rome – Riley McCormick of Victoria is a great teen
diver. Thomas Daley of Great Britain is a teen prodigy.The world glimpsed the future of diving and it looks to be
Daley. The 15-year-old from Plymouth stunned the 2009 world
aquatics championships in Rome by winning the men’s 10-metre
platform gold medal.The 17-year-old McCormick was ninth and cracked the world
top 10 for the first time in his career and shot up nine
placings from his finish at the 2008 Beijing Summer
Olympics.These two will be facing each other at world championships,
Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games for the next 10 to 15
years, with Daley looking to be hard to beat. His was the
first world championship gold medal ever for Britain in
individual diving and Daley is positioned to be a huge
host-country story at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.Daley, belying his age, was money in crunch time as he
scored three perfect 10s on each of his last two dives to
roar from third place to gold with 539.85 points while
Chinese divers Bo Qiu and Luxin Zhou settled for silver and
bronze at 532.20 and 530.55, respectively.McCormick, who graduated this spring from Claremont
Secondary, scored 470.86 to just finish out of the
top-eight, which gets you invited to the prestigious
Invitational World Series. He would have placed higher but
for a bad first dive in the final, which garnered only 6.5
and 7.0 scores. McCormick rebounded to score several 8.5s
and 9s on four of his six dives in the final. It’s a lesson
learned for next time.“Riley gave away points on the first dive, but the main
message out of this is that he can now run with the big
dogs,” said Mitch Geller, Diving Canada chief technical
director, who first identified McCormick as a four-year-old
at Saanich Commonwealth Place.“Riley has a whole lot more in him in the many years he has
ahead in his career,” added Geller, in a telephone interview
from Rome.“It’s nice to get a running start for 2012.”
May 2009
McCormick
Wins Canadian Diving TrialsMay 19, 2009 – They might have to start adding pages to this
guy’s passport.Diver Riley McCormick of Victoria is only 17 but heading to
his third world aquatics championships this summer in Rome.McCormick, who was the youngest of the 46 Island athletes at
the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, booked his ticket to Rome
by winning the men’s 10-metre platform Sunday at the
Canadian trials in Montreal.McCormick was the youngest athlete in any discipline at the
2005 world aquatics championships in Montreal and the
youngest male competitor at the 2007 world championships in
Melbourne.McCormick scored 491.30 points at the Canadian trials and
was easily clear of second-place finisher Eric Sehn of
Edmonton and his 396.15 points. Shane Miszkiel of Victoria
was third with 380.45 and Zach Nicol of Victoria sixth at
329.85. McCormick and Sehn made standard to advance to the
2009 worlds out of the trials.“I know I should be there at the world championships but
it’s still a huge relief,” said McCormick.“It’s a great weight off my shoulders. It’s a judged sport
and anything can happen. You can’t take anything for
granted. Every competition is make or break. Now I can
concentrate on finishing high school this spring [at
Claremont Secondary].”McCormick continues to flirt with the 500-point plateau,
which is roughly the equivalent of scoring a hat-trick in
hockey. He scored 499.5 points at the U.S. Grand Prix three
weeks ago and it looks to be a matter of time before he
takes his diving to that next level — which would result in
medals at major international competitions.“Five-hundred is a magic number in our sport,” said
McCormick.“When you break 500 consistently, you are on or near the
podium at major events. You’re in a very elite group at that
point. It’s a huge confidence booster to be so close. It
means you can compete with the best in the world. It’s been
my goal all year to reach 500. I missed it at the trials and
just missed by half a point at the U.S. Grand Prix.“Now I will just have to do it at the world championships in
Rome.”McCormick has this year added the toughest dive in the sport
to his list – the back 3.5 somersault in straight-leg pike
position.“Basically, you are spinning until you hit the water,”
explained McCormick.It takes years to master that dive and McCormick has
struggled with it in the early going, scoring sevens and
eights with it at the trials. Once he nails it consistently,
McCormick is expected to become a permanent member of the
elite 500-points club at events such as the Summer Olympics,
world championships and Commonwealth Games.“It’s a consistency thing,” said McCormick, of the difficult
dive.“You have to keep working at it. It’s like anything else —
you have to keep going back and doing it.”McCormick first climbed to the top of the 10-metre platform
at Saanich Commonwealth Place as a four-year-old. He
graduates from Claremont next month and is sorting through
full-ride Division 1 NCAA athletic scholarship offers from
U.S. universities.“I’m close to a decision but haven’t committed, yet,” said
McCormick.By Cleve Dheensaw, Times Colonist
[email protected]� Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist
More
Medals for Kemp in Aachen
May 9, 2009 –
Boardworks Rachel
Kemp claimed two more international medals Saturday and
Sunday winning two silver medals in the Girls Group A 3
metre and 10 metre events at the Internationales
Lambertz-Printenspringen diving competition in Aachen,
Germany. On Thursday she won a bronze medal in the
Girls Group A 1 metre event.Also in Aachen, Boardworks Shane Miszkiel also showed he is
amongst the best junior divers in the world placing 4th
today in the Boys group A platform event, after placing 9th
yesterday on 3 metre.April 2009
McCormick to
Challenge World’s Best Divers
April
29, 2009 – Boardworks’ Riley McCormick is in
Montreal this weekend ready to challenge some the
world’s best divers in the Men’s 10 metre platform
event at the 2009 Coupe Canada Cup. Canada Cup
is the 4th stop of the 2009 Fina Grand Prix circuit.
Despite the absence of the powerful Chinese team and
2008 Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham from
Australia, McCormick faces a tough challenge from
former Canada Cup champion Jose Guerra from Cuba and
divers from Germany and Russia. The Men’s 10
metre preliminaries and semi finals are scheduled
for Friday, with the finals set for Saturday
afternoon. For more information about the 2009
Canada Cup, please click
here. To
watch Canada Cup events live online click
here.
March 2009
Diving
Canada Invests in Future Olympians
March 28,
2009 – Six Boardworks divers participated in Diving
Plongeon Canada’s kick-off of the new Olympic
quadrennial by participating in two concurrent elite
junior training camps in Xi-an, China and Montreal
this past weekend.�Diving Canada is already looking forward to the
next Olympic Games and is proactively investing in
the next generation of elite divers and their
coaches,� says Mitch Geller, DPC�s Chief Technical
Officer. �We are confident that initiatives such as
these camps will help build momentum for Canadian
divers and will kick-off the start of an Olympic
quadrennial like never before.�February 2009
Kemp Wins Second Medal at
National Championships
February 15, 2009 – Boardworks Rachel
Kemp won her second bronze medal in as many days placing 3rd
in the Women’s 10m event at the Winter National
Championships in Calgary. Kemp led most of the way
through the event and slightly missed her final dive to let
Montreal’s Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfieto move ahead
of her. Boardworks teammate Morgan Weller placed 5th
in her very first national senior platform event.
September 2008
Boardworks
Coach Wins National Award
November 24, 2008 –
Congratulations go out to Lisa Boog, who was co-winner of
the 2008 Canadian Junior Diving Coach of the Year Award at
the Diving Plongeon Canada Awards Gala held Friday, November
21, in Ottawa.Lisa�s results at the 2008 Speedo Junior Nationals were
outstanding, with three of her divers earning silver medals,
one making Junior National Team, another with a 4th place
finish, plus two more finalists. With the heavy
international competition schedule of Boardrworks Head Coach
Tommy McLeod, she also played a huge role in coaching his
divers to 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals at the 2008
Speedo Junior Nationals, as well as 5 berths on the Junior
National Team.
But Lisa�s results were only a part of what made her so
worthy of recognition this last season. Besides all of the
responsibilities that come with being the General Manager
for Boardworks, Lisa coached at three Provincial Camps and
two Junior National Camps. She was also Meet Manager for
three competitions � Marc LePoole�s Speedo Sting, BC Winter
Provincials, and Maple Leaf Simply Fresh Diving Trials � all
of which were huge successes.
September 2008
Kemp Wins Bronze at World
Juniors
September 18, 2008,
Aachen, Germany � Rachel Kemp of Boardworks won Canada�s
second medal in two days at the world junior diving
championships on Thursday earning the bronze medal in the
women�s platform event in the 14-15 age group.Qi Li of China won the gold medal with a three-dive score of
401.00 points in the final. Michelle Cabassol of the U.S.,
was second at 388.90 and Kemp took the bronze at 358.45.��Rachel did a fantastic job,�� said Scott Cranham, Diving
Canada�s junior elite development director. ��You had to be
consistently strong to be in the medals and Rachel handled
that pressure really well.��
August 2008
McCormick 16th in
Olympic Games Debut
August 24, 2008 – One of Canada’s
brightest stars in diving, Riley McCormick of Victoria
finished 16th in the Men’s 10 metre platform event in his
Olympic debut in Beijing yesterday.McCormick, who turns 17 on Monday, was disappointed in his
performance in the semi-finals, but showed he could be a
major player by the time the next Games roll around in 2012
in London.��It�s very frustrating when you can�t put it all
together,�� said McCormick, who�ll compete next month at the
world junior championships. ��I�ve been training forever for
that moment and it just got away from me. I wasn�t expecting
to have so much trouble dealing with a morning competition
but in the end I should have been there (in the final).��It was another sparkling Games for Canadian divers.
Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Emilie Heymans of
St-Lambert, Que., won silver medals on men�s three-metre and
women�s tower respectively. Blythe Hartley of North
Vancouver added a personal best fourth place on women�s
three-metre as did Marie-Eve Marleau of Laval with a seventh
on women�s tower.Young divers like McCormick, Ross, Jennifer Abel and
Roseline Filion of Laval and Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal
all showed that Canadian diving will continue to be a world
power in the sport for years to come. Those young divers
will continue to capitalize on the leadership of Despatie
who has said he�ll keep diving until 2012.Diving also solidified itself among Canada�s best sports at
the summer Olympic Games. It�s the fourth straight Games
that Canada has earned at least one medal in the sport and
two medals have been won at each of the last three Games.McCormick Advances to Semi Finals in Beijing
August
22, 2008. Boardworks Riley McCormick advanced
to the semi-finals at the 2008 Olympic Games.
McCormick qualified comfortably in 14th place with a
score of 425 points. The top 18 divers move on to
the next round. CBC coverage of the
semi-finals will take place at 6:50pm Friday
evening. Join Boardworks and all of Riley’s
friends and family at Saanich Commonwealth Place
tonight to cheer him on!
July 2008
Boardworks
Divers Qualify for World Junior Championships
July 30, 2008 –
Boardworks continued it’s
winning season last month at the Speedo Junior Nationals in
Thunder Bay, placing four divers on the Canadian Team that
will compete at the Fina World Junior Diving Championships. Lead by Olympian Riley McCormick,
who was pre-named to the World Junior Team in the Boys A
Platform event based on his Olympic qualification,
Boardworks divers Kevin Vos, Rachel Kemp and Shane Miszkiel
will also make the trip to Aachen, Germany in September.Miszkiel, who won the Boys A Platform event in Thunder Bay
with a solid performance,
will be making his second appearance at the World Junior
Championships, having attended two years ago in Malaysia,
placing 12th.