Creating a platform for diving at St. Thomas More
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When Mitchell Hynds started his freshman year at The High School of Saint Thomas More (STM) four years ago, the school didn’t have a diving team. Back then, the school didn’t have a boys’ swim team either. Mitchell had been diving for years at this point and was interested in continuing with the sport in high school, but it didn’t look like that was an option.
For his sophomore year, he transferred to Central High School and found support from Coach Dave Young. He represented the Central Maroons and found success in competition, both that year and the next.
“Mitchell went to state that year,” his mother, Carrie Blackford, says. “His junior year at Central he won sectionals and would have gone to state, but due to Covid they didn’t have a state competition.”
The competition at sectionals during junior year was particularly hard for Mitchell because he lost his father to cancer; Mitchell used his dad as inspiration through the meet.
“I knew he wouldn’t have wanted me to quit diving,” Mitchell says. “Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I chose to make my father proud by staying consistent and working twice as hard.”
He found himself back at STM for his senior year this school year where he discovered an important, positive change: STM now had a boys’ swim team.
“I initially approached Coach Deptula about joining the swim team,” Mitchell says. “Since I had previous diving experience, we both worked together to form the dive portion of the team.”
STM didn’t have a dedicated diving coach, however, so Mitchell turned to someone who knows the platform well: his big brother, Mikey, who has also trained and competed in diving. The boys worked together to hone Mitchell’s skill and technique, which Mitchell appreciates.
“Since he’s my big brother, he can offer honest advice and encouragement,” Mitchell says. “During a training session, my brother is not afraid to give constructive criticism.”
With that advice and constructive criticism, Mitchell found himself at the top of the leaderboard throughout the season. He set records in the 11-dive category at the Twin City Invitational, the Urbana Tiger Invitational and the conference meet at Olympia. He qualified for the state competition again this year, the only student on the STM swim team to represent the school on the diving platform.
It’s a position that can put a lot of pressure on an athlete.
“Since it is not a team sport, all of the success is dependent on you,” Carrie says.
His respectable top 40 finish allowed him to end the season proud to establish the dive program once again at STM.
“Hopefully others will be inspired and dive for the team next year,” Carrie says.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.
