The Lancer diver finished second with 283.30 points at the Mt. Carmel Invitational April 13 and placed runner-up with 316.90 points at last weekend’s Santana Invitational. Both invitationals included 11-dive cards. The 316.90 point total met the automatic entry standard for next month’s division championship meet.

As a measure of reference, Kovar finished fifth at last year’s Mt. Carmel Invitational en route to an overall fourth-place finish at the Division II finals.

The two high profile meets marked the first time he had put together an 11-dive program this season. High school dual meets feature six-dive cards for one-meter diving.

“The Mt. Carmel Invitational came out of nowhere. I just found out about it the Wednesday before it took place. I had to throw 11 dives together. It wasn’t too difficult,” he said.

For the Mt. Carmel Invitational, in which he finished behind reigning two-time Division I champion Dustin Watson of Poway High, Kovar said he relied mainly on the dives he performed at last year’s CIF meet.

“I was thinking I was going to get fourth or fifth. My Dad told me to keep my head straight and not worry about placing and just focus on my diving. Once I did that, I started doing better,” Kovar said.

“Dad” is Dan Kovar, a Hilltop High alumnus whose school record for most points for 11 dives has stood since 1976. The elder Kovar also serves as the dive coach at Mar Vista High and supplies both moral and technical support for his son. The younger Kovar now holds the No. 2 position on the school’s leader board for most points scored for six dives. The school record for six dives has also stood since 1976 and the younger Kovar is very close to matching it.

There is a growing outside chance that Kyle could win the Division II diving championships this year. His main competition should come from divers representing Coronado High School.

“Kyle’s performance is improving steadily. I think he now sees the potential that I saw early on and is practicing harder and with more determination,” said Dan Kovar, a two-time Metro champion in his high school days.

The Hilltop standout considers his strength to be his “hurdles” — or starts. He has begun working more difficult dives into his repertoire as the season rapidly comes to a close. “The better your hurdles, the easier it is to complete the dives,” he said.

Besides diving, the Hilltop standout also swims a variety of events to help his team’s scoring potential in dual meets. The 100-yard backstroke may be his next strongest event after diving and he said it would be a goal to compete in both events in the upcoming divisional prelims and finals. “Mostly I’m focusing on my diving. My second event is the 100 backstroke and I want to compete in that also in CIF if I can,” he said.

Despite finishing third at last year’s Metro dive finals, he earned recognition during the regular season as the conference’s Diver of the Year. He will try to improve on last year's performance as a freshman when this year’s conference diving finals are held May 7. The Division I dive prelims and finals are May 14 at Mesa College, followed by the Division II meet May 17 at the same site.

Dan Kovar is just as much excited about the overall performance level of South County divers this year as he is about his own son’s accomplishments. Among those whom the Mar Vista coach sees capable of also producing top 10 showings at CIF include are Mar Vista’s Sean Crampton and Eastlake’s Samantha Womer in Division II, and Chula Vista’s Alex Soto, Sweetwater’s Kyle Delangel and Bonita Vista’s Brittany Aland and Sara Perez in Division I.