30-year-old record broken

A middle school diving record set in 1987 was broken over the weekend by a seventh grader from Lincoln Middle School.

Braxton Cordova earned a score of 156.95 in the five dives event during a swim meet in Rawlins, breaking Green River's middle school record of 156.20 set by Neil Hutchins.

"I wasn't sure at first," Cordova said about breaking the record. "I feel like I did my best."

Cordova's diving coach, Rick Barker, said he was impressed with Cordova's performance, saying Cordova continually improves himself each time he dives.

At the Rawlins meet, five judges scored the diving event. Barker said judges look for a number of different criteria when scoring dives, including the height of the diver after he leaves the board, the form they take during their dive, as well as how the diver enters the water.

"I was really impressed with what he did," Barker said.

Cordova said he wants to try making a score of at least 180 points, the cutoff score for the high school swimming and diving state meet. Cordova wouldn't be able to compete at the high school level if he achieves that score, but Barker believes Cordova is capable of competing with high schoolers.

Cordova is in his second year of diving for the LMS team.

He started as a sixth grader and competed during the summer months. While he enjoys soccer, tennis and basketball, Cordova said the feeling of leaving the diving board and going into the water is what keep him coming back to diving.

Cordova said he plans to continue diving when he goes to Green River High School.