Fox Chapel’s Cagley, Penn-Trafford’s Kalik repeat at WPIAL diving

By: Kyle Dawson
Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 9:11 PM

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Defending champs reigned at North Allegheny during Saturday’s WPIAL Class AAA diving championships: When all was said and done, both student-athletes who entered as defending champs left with gold.

In the boys field, 26 of the 29 dives scored 50 or more points. Eight scored better than 60,and two were better than 70.

Fox Chapel senior Jonah Cagley, whose 588.95 points were his most in a WPIAL championship event, won his third straight title. The Duke commit had four dives score more than 60 and won by 31.30 points, defeating Penn-Trafford senior Logan Sherwin.

Sherwin dove in each round four divers ahead of Cagley, so the lead flipped almost every time the two were on the board.

“I’m overall super happy with my performance today,” Cagley said. “I wanted to have my best WPIALs in my senior year.”

Cagley said the similarities between his dive set and Sherwin’s allowed for a fun back-and-forth.

“Him being in front of me did help me. We dive together at Pitt and are good friends. His set is similar to mine,” Cagley said. “A lot of the time, I’d watch him hit his dive and I’d have the same one, so I knew I had to hit my dive, too. It pushed me to do the best I could.”

The two had the same fourth dive, with Sherwin producing a 75 and Cagley a 73.50. Mt. Lebanon’s Owen Johns won bronze, and Fox Chapel’s David Manelis and Franklin Regional’s Mason Fishell will join the three medalists at the PIAA championships March 13-14 at Bucknell.

Cagley also was excited for his team as the Foxes placed four divers in the top nine. Senior Magnus Loeffler placed seventh, and sophomore Aidan Ireland placed ninth. Manelis, a sophomore, was fourth.

“I think it just goes to show how our program has improved over the years,” Cagley said. “I’m excited to go back to states with David. I need to make some tweaks and clean up my dives. I’ll work on those.”

On the girls side, Penn-Trafford senior Paige Kalik led pretty much from the start on her way to a second consecutive WPIAL gold medal.

Kalik had three dives of more than 50 points and beat her score last season by 53.25 points.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Kalik said. “I think last year was a little harder for me, but it was a little harder to stay focused this year because there weren’t as many people pushing me. I had to stay focused for me.”

Kalik credited a lot of her success to offseason training but said she wanted to have fun in her last WPIAL meet.

“Over the summer, I started working with a trainer and building that muscle, and it really helped,” she said. “I wanted to soak this event up with my friends.”

Kalik will be joined at PIAAs by North Allegheny’s Maya Ennis, who won silver; Seneca Valley’s Kenzie Clark, who won bronze; Bethel Park’s Sadie Coda and Oakland Catholic’s Ava Christy.

Kalik, an Akron commit, said she has a few more difficult dives in her set for states.

“I’m definitely excited,” she said.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Penn-Trafford