The girls varsity divers who qualified for CCS are looking forward to the meet on May 12. Diving may be an individual sport, but they all work together to improve their skills for meets. So far only three girls, varsity captain junior Anna Dupin, freshman Shannon Johnson Guthrie and sophomore Jessy Chen have qualified for CCS.

The season is technically over for the divers who did not qualify for CCS, but divers may still show up to practice to support the rest of the team, freshman Sonya Bonne said.  

“There are seven judges [at CCS meets] instead of two and it’s just a more competitive environment,” Bonne said.

Johnson Guthrie dove for a club team for a few months before trying out this year as a freshman. She said she was excited to make it to CCS on varsity, as she was expecting to be put on JV. She said her favorite dive is the reverse somersault.

“[In CCS] you have a lot more dives and the judging is a little tougher,” Guthrie said.

Dupin, one of the other divers who qualified, has dove every year at HHS and for five and a half years through a club team at Stanford. She said she competes with 11 different dives one meter board and 11 on three meter board.

“I just like being with the group and making friends. It’s fun,” Dupin said.  

The diving team typically has practices 5 days a week after school where divers sit in a “hot tub,” which is a kiddie pool filled with warm water in between dives that Bonne said she enjoys going to.

“Yeah it’s super fun and the environments really supportive and the people are really nice, so yeah I like it,” Bonne said.  

Bonne had been diving since the beginning of the season and had also done waterpolo. She will dive again next year as the team has never had cuts. Tryouts next year are for boys and girls and there is no prior experience required.

The girls varsity and JV diving teams did well at the meet on Thursday, March 30.  The diving team’s score is combined with the swim team’s score to make the total score of the meet. Each dive is given a score based on the difficulty, technique, how close to the board and how big of a splash the diver makes, Senior boys varsity diving captain Cole Brower said.

There are many underclassmen girls on the diving team, but only one junior and no seniors. Freshman Sonya Bonne, who has been diving for almost a month, said there have never been cuts for tryouts in the past, but the coach said he may cut people in the future if they are not good enough.

Bonne said she knows six dives and her favorite is a front dive tuck, but she has not competed officially at a meet yet. Varsity captain Anna Dupin has been diving for five and a half years at Stanford and has dove every year at HHS. She said she can do over 11 different dives on a one meter board and 11 on a three meter board.

“I just like being with the group and making friends. It’s fun,” Dupin said.  

Freshman Kelly Stepanenko from FHS has been diving for eight years at Santa Clara Diving. She came to her first meet at HHS recently and enjoyed it.

“I think [the HHS divers are] great and I love their positivity all the time and I just love them as people,” Stepanenko said.

Four students came to watch the boys and girls diving meet on Thursday, but there were many parents and family members in attendance. Senior Sarah Golbidi, who attended the meet, thought it was interesting and recommends more students come out to support the diving team.

Last week, the varsity golf team defeated the number two-seeded Los Altos High School in a close match of 194 strokes to 197 strokes. The win secured the Mustangs a close third place in the division, allowing the team to compete at leagues for the first time since 2003.

Had the Mustangs lost the game, Gunn High School would have overtaken the Mustangs for third place.

Star players junior Nikhil Sharma and senior Joson Ralph broke their record scores for the high school year, scoring 32 and 33 strokes respectively. Their performance made the difference in the close win against Los Altos High School.

Unlike in previous years, where just a few top players dominated the scene, this year’s team has displayed a strong overall performance.

“[Since 2003] I’ve had really good individuals [on the team], but we’ve never quite had the depth to finish in third,” varsity head coach Gary Yoshida said. “On golf six people play, five scores count. This year in the four, five and six positions I’ve had way more consistent golfers than in the past, so that’s what kind of did it for us.”

Not only has the overall team performance improved, but so have the atmosphere and dynamic of the team.

“The teammate relationships have been a lot stronger than before and it creates a welcoming atmosphere at every practice,” junior Julius Buonanno said. “We have light-hearted bets and matches during practices and the winner gets donuts.”

Moving into leagues, which takes place from May 2-5, the team has a more carefree stance.

“We’ve never been there in a long time, I just want them to have fun,” Yoshida said. “We should have a good chance of placing in league too.”