Fox Chapel diver Cagley claims bronze at PIAA championships

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | 5:21 PM

LEWISBURG — Jonah Cagley found himself in third place after the first round of five dives Wednesday at the PIAA Class AAA boys diving championships at Bucknell.

He also was in third place after Round 2's set of three dives.

That's also where the Fox Chapel junior was situated when all was said and done. He scored a bronze medal with an 11-dive final tally of 483.75 points.

“I was pretty consistent throughout the whole meet, so I was pretty proud of that,” said Cagley, who also placed third last year after taking 11th as a freshman.”

The two-time WPIAL Class AAA champion (2017 and 2018) averaged 44.13 points over his final three dives.

“Going into the second round and finals, I just really focused on the dives in front of me,” Cagley said. “There were a couple dives where I thought I could do better, but I just put those behind me and kept looking ahead.”

Cagley said he was happy with how he executed his final dive, an inward double with a 2.8 degree of difficulty.

“I put it last because under pressure, I know I can do it well,” Cagley said. “I blocked everything else out and just focused on executing the dive.”

Teammate David Manelis made his PIAA debut and finished 10th (403.30). The Fox Chapel freshman was sixth after the first round, slipped to 11th after eight dives and ticked up one spot in the finals.

“I felt I did well,” said Manelis, who said he was under the weather leading up to the event.

He said he is looking forward to coming back over the next three years and improving his place finish and challenging for a state title.

Boys diving complimented the first day of Class AAA swimming that featured the boys and girls 200-yard medley relay, the 200 freestyle, the 200 individual medley, the 50 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 200 free relay.

Fox Chapel senior Joslyn Filo came in as the No. 8 seed in the girls 100 fly and hoped to reach the championship finals.

But her preliminary swim Wednesday was a little slower than what she had hoped, and her time of 58.77 placed her 24th.

She finished runner-up in the event at WPIALs with a school-record time of 56.67.

“It was a tough race,” Fox Chapel assistant Gail Hetu said. “She did so well at WPIALs, and it's often hard to do your best time again at states.”

Filo also swam with her sister, sophomore Jaclyn Filo, and senior Molly Wiese and sophomore Grace Gackenbach during the 200 medley relay, and the quartet placed 22nd (1:50.99).

Plum junior Devan Taylor came within four one-hundredths of a second away from breaking her own school record in the 200 IM. She swam a 2:09.68 and placed 22nd. Taylor comes back Thursday morning in the 100 breast and is seeded ninth (1:04.16).

Kiski Area's Josh Madzy came in seeded 26th in the boys 200 free, and that's where he finished in 1:45.08. He will swim the 100 backstroke Thursday,

The Class AAA preliminary swims Thursday also will include the 100 free, 500 free and 400 free relay. The boys heats will begin at 8 a.m., and the girls will take to the pool at 10:40 a.m.

The consolation and championship finals will be 6:05 p.m. for the boys and 8:35 p.m. for the girls.

The Class AAA girls diving championships will be at 2:35 p.m. Thursday.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Kiski School, Plum