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Solon diver Kreft breaks school, pool records
(by Tony Lange - February 03, 2011)
Solon diver Kreft breaks school, pool records
By TONY LANGE
Senior Michael Kreft broke Solon High School's school and pool six-dive record at last Friday's senior night swim meet. His performance, a 360.60 shattered Daniel Jacobson's 343.90 record, which also was set on senior night one year ago.
Before Jacobson set the record, Kreft held the record since his freshman year, he said.
"My teammate on senior night had the meet of his life last year and took down my previous record," Kreft said. "So it's been up there for a year, and one of my main goals this season was to take that down before I left. It's kind of ironic that it happened a year later exactly on my senior night."
Last season, Solon had three divers place in the top 10 at the state meet, so every competition was a battle all year, Kreft said. Last year's senior night motivated him to finish the season long, he said, and he did.
As a junior, Kreft won the boys' diving state title with 472.2 points in the 11-dive competition and was the first Comet diver crowned state champ in school history. Micah Rembrandt, of Solon, was fifth, and Jacobson finished 10th.
Solon's head diving coach, Marc Cahalane, also runs the American Flyer Diving club team, which has also used Solon's pool, Kreft said.
"The fact that the club program can work as a feeder program for the high school, I think that had been the main reason that Solon year after year has been able to have such a talented diving program," Kreft said.
He started diving when he was 9 and has been with the Flyers since, he said. Before this season started, however, he was out of commission for about six months. After the state meet last year, Kreft's shoulder had been bothering him during USA diving meets, and he ended up tearing his rotator cuff, he said.
"It has been a difficult situation," Kreft said. "I had surgery in May, so I didn't dive for six months. I basically got back in the pool right around October, November, when the season started. It's been the road of recovery back to the top. It's been easier than I had planned, honestly. It came back really fast."
Kreft said he believes he is better this year even with the time off.
"That was the main motivator to at least get back up to what I was, and, as it turned out, I think I surpassed that level," Kreft said. "I think having been forced to go back to basics and really train in small basic details that you don't always practice when you're just going through your normal routine. It was bad but I think it also helped me in a lot of ways."
At the Northeast Ohio Conference meet, Kreft placed first in the 11-dive competition with 519.95 points. His NOC record was set in 2010 with 534.05 points.
"A lot of times it's just the judging of the day. One dive goes bad, and another one goes good," Kreft said. "It's just day-to-day stuff that would account for that difference in the scoring. In terms of how I feel and how I evaluate my day-to-day training, I think my overall diving list is better than last year and definitely more consistent and more precise."
This year, Kreft said he would like to remain undefeated at sectional and district and to repeat his state championship.
"Hopefully, I'll get up in the 550's. That'd be great for me," he said.
Kreft has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
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