Our latest Amphenol Aerospace Athlete of the Week takes us out to the Johnson City pool where senior Evan Rigal boasts an impressive resume with a Section IV Championship and his school's 11-dive record, but before this weekend was still searching for a State Championship qualifier.

At the Johnson City High School pool, on one end there's a myriad of swimmers spanning different strokes and skill sets.

And on the other, there's Evan, a four-time school record setter in 11-dive, but what exactly is that?

"11 dives," Rigal joked.

In high school, it's the most important event for divers.

"It's the big score that most recruiters in colleges use and they see," Rigal said.

It's also how you qualify for states, something Evan was just short of last year.

"He was so close last year," said head varsity dive coach Ashlee Kohlbach. "He missed it by less than a point."

In fact, Rigel's opportunities to compete were limited, missing six weeks with a concussion.

"I just don't think I had enough time last year to qualify," Rigal said. "I cut it really close to qualifying for states but didn't make it.

And although Evan sustained his injury during a dive, that minor setback didn't stop him from a major comeback.

"Everybody in diving is going to come to a stanza, a point where the dives just get too scary or too hard," Rigal said. "But it's kind of your job to push through it to make sure you know what you can do and know what you're willing to do."

Taking us to Saturday, the first 11 dive meet of the year.

"It was on both of our minds," Kohlbach said.

So Rigel dove 10 times, with one more to go, walking up, across the board and preparing knowing, another school record and his first state qualifier were in reach.

Almost deja vu from last year.

"It came down to the last dive as well, and it was just down to the decimal and I didn't make it," Rigal said. "So I didn't I didn't want to be overconfident and have that happen again."

So then came the moment of truth.

"When he was up on his last dive and he nailed it, I knew right then before the score going up that he got it," Kohlbach said. "And I basically cried when he did it. And his mom was there and she was crying."

Rigal registered a total score of 473.5, 23 higher than he needed and breaking the school record for the fourth time which previously sat just shy of 450.

The state championships will be held on March 1 as Rigal and coach Ashlee hope to continue to raise the standard for JC Swimming and Diving.

"I made it this far. Why not take it a step further?" Rigal said.

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