By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, May 7, 2002 -- Before the official scores were announced at Tuesday’s Metro Conference diving championships at the Parkway pool, the conference’s respective male and female Diver of the Year were announced after a poll of a committee of coaches. The names, perhaps not coincidentally, matched up with the final results: Chula Vista senior Alex Soto and Eastlake sophomore Samantha Womer.

The dive title was the second consecutive for Soto, who finished ninth at last year’s San Diego Section Division I diving finals. Womer boldly moved up from last year’s third-place conference showing to edge 2001 runner-up finisher Brittney Aland of Bonita Vista.

Amazingly, Soto is only in his second year in the sport. “I saw it on TV. I said I could do that. I did it,” he laughed.

Soto’s preseason goals were to repeat his conference title and move up to a top 5 CIF finish. He was undefeated in league dual meet competition until his loss May 2 in a matchup against Hilltop super sophomore Kyle Kovar. Kovar, who some give an outside chance to win the Division II title this season, defeated Soto by a score of 185.8 to 169.45 in the six-dive meet. However, neither diver was feeling perfectly healthy that day.

Soto began the season with a fifth-place finish at the Helix Invitational, trailing Kovar (second place). How-ever, Soto avenged the setback to the Lancer diver with a third-place finish at the Poway Invitational. Kovar, who recorded three second-place invitational finishes this season, then defeated Soto in the head-to-head dual meet encounter.

The conference’s top divers are now 2-2 in mutual competition heading into the CIF postseason in which neither will meet again. Kovar will compete in Tuesday’s Division II finals at Mesa College; Soto will compete in next Friday’s Division I finals at the same site. Both diving events start at 4:30 p.m.

“It was definitely surprising,” Soto said of this elite finish at the Poway Invitational. “It opened up a whole lot of new opportunities — that I had a pretty good chance to place at CIF.”

Soto said the key of his success has been maintaining consistency in the late stages of the season.

“The first time I lost to Kyle at Helix, it was my first 11-dive meet. Some of the other divers already had one or two 11-dive meets. I wasn’t used to it. I’ve gotten more consistent ever since. I’m excited and happy for that,” Soto said.

“He was what I expected. He listens. He pays attention,” said a proud Spartan dive coach Gerardo Torres, himself a former CVHS diver.

As with all divers, Soto felt he could have done better in Tuesday’s meet. “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate today’s performance a 7. I thought I could have done better on some of my dives,” he said, adding, “It’s a confidence boost. I’m not really worried about placing in the top 5 (at CIF). I just want to score above 350 points.”

Soto credited two dives with helping him win his second consecutive Metro dive title: the forward one-and-one-half full twist and reverse double. “I finally pulled that one off (reverse double) in an 11-dive meet. The degree of difficulty was high on that one. It helped boost me,” he said.

Kovar was coming off a second-place finish at the RBV Invitational at Palomar College in which he had racked up his highest-ever point total for an 11-dive meet: 339 points. However, one badly missed dive in the early rounds of Tuesday’s meet — he was limited to scoring no higher than 2’s — helped contribute to his runner-up finish

“I went out there (at the RBV Invitational) knowing I had already made CIF. I was there just to have fun. Today, all I wanted to do was win. I got stupid,” Kovar said.

Kovar moved up from his third-place finish as a freshman at the Metro dive finals. Mar Vista sophomore Sean Crampton was third at this year’s meet with a season-best 11-dive point total.

Eastlake’s Womer was among the most surprised when the final scores were announced, though observers familiar with the sport had to be in the know that something good was in store for the sophomore by the way she was consistently hitting her dives throughout the meet.

“Actually, I thought I was going to do bad,” she admitted afterward. “I went into the bathroom because I was upset. My friend told me not to worry and have fun. After that, I just took it one dive at a time.”

Womer, who finished third at last year’s conference meet, improved her point total by more than 30 points. More importantly, she said, she was most happy that she made the CIF consideration mark. She missed it last year by less than one point.

“I just wanted to make it to CIF. I got third place in Metro last year. Now I want to do well in CIF and do well next year,” she said.

Womer credited her forward dives with helping her achieve victory.

“I wanted to execute all the difficult ones but to do my best on every dive,” she said.

The Metro dive finals marked her fourth 11-dive meet this season. She placed 11th at the Mt. Carmel Invitational at midseason.

Bonita Vista’s Aland and Sarah Perez, both of whom made the CIF consideration standard at the RBV Invitational, finished second and third, respectively, at this year’s conference meet. Aland finished second at last year’s meet while Perez was fourth. All bettered last year’s scores.

The total of 16 divers in the boys and girls fields was just as much the story of the meet.

“I’m glad to see it coming up. It shows the program is coming up. It shows well for what we did this summer,” said Mar Vista dive coach Dan Kovar. “The more we get involved in summer programs, the better it will be every year.”

Bonita Vista dive coach Tom Larimer concurred. “It seems the level of diving has come up since last year. We’re starting to see dives of higher degree of difficulty.”

The conference championship meet is today at Southwestern College, starting at 3 p.m. The Division I prelims are Wednesday, May 15, at Mt. Carmel High School, followed by the Division II prelims Thursday, May 16, and the divisional finals Saturday, May 18, at the same site. The Division I finals are at 9 a.m.; the Division II finals are at 3 p.m.