West Newsmagazine 12-12-18

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22 I SPORTS I December 12, 2018 WEST NEWSMAGAZINE @WESTNEWSMAG WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM Parkway South freshman diver finishes second in Class 1 state meet BUSINESS PROFILES { Generate } buzz A special advertising section coming again 1.23.19 Call 636.591.0010 to reserve your space By WARREN MAYES With his freshman diving season complete, Brayden Escher already has a vision for his future with the Parkway South Patriots. “I definitely want to work hard this next whole season and come back ready to do even better,” Escher said. To do “even better” would mean winning the Class 1 state diving championship. Escher ended his firstever state meet at the St. Peters Rec-Plex with a second-place finish in the one-meter diving competition. He ended with 455.05 points. Cole Earl, of Springfield’s Glendale High, won with 533.50 points. His diving coach, Jenoa Olson, said she was pleasantly surprised by this talented freshman she gained on the Patriots’ diving crew. “I did not expect the addition of Brayden, as a freshman who I’ve never met,” Olson said. Escher has been diving for a long time – since around age 7 to be exact. The thrill of the sport is what Escher likes most. “The sport is so appealing to me because it is such an adrenaline rush,” Escher said. “I’m an adrenaline junky.” Escher also dives for Clayton Diving Alliance [CDA], a national team with whom he has been competing for about five years. “CDA definitely helped with the nerves factor in diving,” Escher said. While representing CDA at the nationals meet last summer, Escher placed eighth in prelims. “I’ve pretty much made nationals all five years I’ve been on that team,” Escher said. His success has not come by accident. Escher knows being a good diver takes work and practice. “In the offseason or winter, I normally do about three days a week and two hours per practice,” Escher said. “But in the summer it really kicks up. I do five days a week for four hours a day. It can be brutal, but I always know I’m improving, so I stick with it.” Escher wanted to take his experience Parkway South freshman Brayden Escher earned second place at his first-ever Class 1 state diving championship. with CDA and translate it to success on his high school team. “My expectations for the season were to make it to state, basically, and go on from there,” Escher said. Escher qualified for state in his first meet as a Patriot. He scored 277 points in a sixdive contest against Eureka High. “Brayden has a great work ethic. He dives year-round ... so he is comfortable competing at a high level,” Olson said. “He’s very calculated and methodical, and his attitude and enthusiasm for the sport was a great fit with our team.” Escher went undefeated in dual matches and invitational meets this fall. He also won the Parkway Quad, a six-dive meet, by 15 points. Escher’s name already is in the record book at Parkway South. He set a school record for points in an 11-dive meet with 477.55 at the Cape Rock Invitational. Escher won the meet, which featured 16 divers, by 15 points. That performance, Olson said, was a good indication Escher would do well at the state meet. “After seeing his performance at [that meet] and watching scores pop up throughout the state, I had a pretty good indication that he would be third or better at the state championships,” Olson said. Escher won the Suburban Conference Red Pool swimming and diving championships at Summit with 434 points. Going into the state meet, Escher said his expectations were “to focus on myself and do the best that I could do and walk away happy – because it is my freshman year, after all.” “His score at state was just slightly lower than his score earlier in the season where he broke the school record by 10 points. Although, in my opinion, his performance [at state] was stronger,” Olson said. “The judging tends to be tighter at state championships.” “I was definitely psyched to get second for my first time being there [at state],” Escher said. “With having this experience as a freshman, I know it will only encourage him to set his sights on winning it all next year,” Olson said.
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West Newsmagazine 12-12-18

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