Victoria West diver Mallory Draper watches the replay of her previous on a large screen to evaluate her technique.
West's Draper goes for second straight state berth
Originally published February 9, 2012 at 11:21 p.m., updated February 10, 2012 at 1:05 p.m.
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Mallory Draper prepares for meet
Victoria Wesh High School sophomore Mallory Draper practices diving.
FRANK TILLEY/FTILLEY@VICAD.COM
Mallory Draper works on a forward one and a half pike dive at the Victoria Aquatics Center. Mallory, a student at West High School has qualified for the state competition.
FRANK TILLEY/FTILLEY@VICAD.COM
Victoria West diver Mallory Draper practices two hours during her workouts preparing for state. After reviewing her back dive straight, Draper watches the replay on a large screen to evaluate her technique.
Region VI-4A Swimming & Diving Meet
Conroe ISD NatatoriumPreliminaries: 10 a.m. FridayFinals: 9:30 a.m. SaturdayQualifiersVictoria East; (Girls) Heidi Shay. (Boys) Dakoda Bell, Taylor Browning, Joseph Huber, Ryan Mayes, Sean Morin, Jay Mowdy, Joseph Tucker, Brian Van Baak Goncalves.Victoria West: (Girls) Mikayla Bartell, Mallory Draper, Karly Rae Hoerig, Rachel Innocenti, Morgan Loudenslager. (Boys) Mason Carroll, Colton Eichholz, Shane Kallman, Billy York.Bay City: (Girls) Morgan Attaway, Rachael Frawley, Paige Green, Brittanie Hulbert, Sierra Kacko, Haley Skinner. (Boys) Taylor Bell, Dustin Condry, Rob Haring, Jordan Kacko, Scott Kaufman, Cole Leissner, Andrew Richards, Taylor Vasek.El Campo: (Girls) Audrey Anderson, Michelle Cantu, Stacey Cordero, Alannah Shimek, Kari Wilkins. (Boys) Ben Haas, Colton Martin.Wharton: (Girls) Rachel Billings, Libby Hinze, Kaitlyn Norrell, Sydney Stolle.
Mallory Draper has been to the Conroe ISD Natatorium and she's anxious to go back.
The Victoria West sophomore finished second in the girls one-meter diving competition at last year's Region VI-4A meet at the natatorium.
She also attended a diving clinic at the facility in January.
The clinic included gymnastics, class time and on-the-board instruction from Olympic diver Christina Loukas and Olympic gold medalist Laura Wilkinson.
"The coaches helped me one on one and we got some dive time," Draper said. "We got to meet two Olympic athletes and that was amazing. That did prepare us a lot."
Draper hopes what she learned will help her finish in the top two at this week's regional meet and return to the state meet for the second consecutive year.
"I'm still nervous," Draper said. "To be nervous is good. I have to say, I'm a little scared. I just have to keep my head high and have a great meet again. I just have to get enough sleep and be prepared."
Draper was more than ready for the District 24-4A meet. She won the gold medal with 344.45 points and outscored runner-up Averie Garcia of Richmond Foster by 25.65 points.
"I would say it was a really great meet for me," Draper said. "I came close to breaking my own personal record. I was really glad to beat the girl I wanted to beat for a while."
Draper placed second at last year's regional meet before finishing eighth at the state meet in her first year of competition.
She went to diving clinics over the summer and continues to practice with Tommy Law of the Community Olympic Development Program in San Antonio.
"She's been working hard and really perfected her technique a lot," said West coach Daryl Sedlacek. "Her dives look a lot sharper and she's going in the water a lot smoother."
Draper was hoping to have company at the regional meet.
West junior Josh Bednorz was favored to win the boys one-meter event at the district meet, but had to withdraw because of a knee injury.
"He's had surgery on both knees and he still dived," Sedlacek said. "If we was hurting bad enough where he can't dive, I know it must be really bothering him."
Draper will perform eight dives in Friday's preliminary round before doing three in Saturday's finals.
"I can't get disappointed," she said. "Some of my dives, I'll mess up right at the entry or I'll forget to stay straight at one point. I'll be so focused for that dive, that I won't be concerned with the next dive.
"I have to remember to worry about the next dive and not that dive that is already over. Just move on because you can't change it."
NOTES: The top 16 in Friday's preliminaries advance to Saturday's finals.
The state meet is scheduled for Feb. 24-25 at the Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin.
The top swimmer in each event and the top two divers at each regional meet qualify for the state meet.
The next eight fastest swimmers in each event from any of the eight regions also qualify for the state meet.
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