EMMAUS - A pair of area divers competed in the District 11 2A diving championship on Saturday at Emmaus High School.

Both came away with improved scores over their performance at the 11-dive event last year, with Hayden Slaski of Northwestern Lehigh getting a return ticket to the PIAA Championships next month at Bucknell University.

Meanwhile, Tamaqua’s Vinnie Valentine finished third in the event, one position out of qualifying for states.

Slaski won the event last year with a score of 309.50, and although he upped his performance to 354.40 points this time around, it left him in second place behind Pottsville’s Adam Klinger. Klinger also improved his performance from last season when he placed third with a 300.20 score, jumping to a 396.65 mark this year.

Both Klinger and Slaski will represent their schools and District 11 at states, with Valentine serving as an alternate.

“It was kind of surreal coming in, because I knew it was my last one (district championship), but at the same time, I felt good and felt confident in all of my dives so I was ready for it,” said Valentine.

Klinger led after the first two rounds before Slaski posted a 33.60 on his back dive pike in the third round, while Klinger attempted an inward dive pike and for a score of 20.25, allowing Slaski to slip ahead of him. Meanwhile, Valentine was comfortably in third place through round three.

The order changed again one round later when Klinger nailed an inward double somersault tuck for a score of 43.40 to regain the lead, with Slaski and Klinger running second and third, respectively.

Slaski and Klinger continued their battle, but Slaski was unable to make up any ground until round eight when he received his highest score of the meet to that point with a 34.65 on a reverse 1 ½ somersault tuck, closing the gap. Klinger still held a 276.95-249.30 lead at that point.

Valentine slowly saw his grasp on third place shrink as Pottsville’s Colin Kline began to string together some strong dives. After round eight, the Tamaqua senior’s hold on third place was down to 189.95-188.70 over Kline, who would take third place by one point over Valentine in the ninth round with a 212.70-211.70 lead as Valentine fell to fourth.

Valentine put together a pair of strong dives in the final two rounds to hold off Kline, who also had strong dives to finish his day. In the end, Valentine edged Kline 259.80-257.40 to earn the bronze medal for the third straight year.

“I always have to pay attention to where I’m at during any meet. I always have to watch where I am because I feel like I have to know,” admitted Valentine, who will be studying Neuroscience at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, but will not be continuing his diving career. “Of course, I always give 100 percent, but I feel like I have to know when I have to give 110 percent.”

Slaski and Klinger continued their battle, with Slaski getting his highest score of the meet in round 10 when he performed his inward 1 ½ somersault pike for a score of 36.00 from the judges.

“I was really happy with that dive, I loved it,” Slaski said of his inward pike dive. “I got pretty good scores on it and felt good during the dive, so that was my favorite of the day.”

Unfortunately for Slaski, Klinger finished the meet with three scores above 36 and saved his best for last, getting a 44.40 when he nailed his version of the 1 ½ somersault pike to lock up the championship.

“I worked hard and am pretty happy with my results, and am glad to be going to states again,” said Slaski. “I think it’s absolutely going to be a little easier than last year as a freshman. That was a big undertaking last season and now, I’ll know a little about what to expect. I’m grateful for the chance to go back and plan on making the most of it.”

LOOKING AHEAD ... The PIAA 2A Diving Championships will be held March 13 at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium.