MANSFIELD — He didn’t start diving until his freshman year, but Mansfield Senior’s Will Payne has made up for lost time.
A senior, Payne was selected the Ohio Cardinal Conference’s Male Diver of the Year after breaking the OCC meet record last week in Wooster. Payne’s total of 469.50 points topped the former mark of 464.80 set by Lexington’s Max Roth last year.
What’s more, Payne broke one of the longest-standing school records on the books. The previous Senior High mark was 443.75 set by Joe Dropsey in 1981.
While he is a relative newcomer to the sport, Payne is well known in Senior High football and boys basketball circles. He’s a member of the cheer squad and is renowned for his high-flying tumbling routines.
“He had no previous diving experience before his freshman year, but he has a gymnastics and tumbling background,” Mansfield Senior coach Jacob Perl said. “It’s a little easier for those guys to make the transition to diving, but what they struggle with is going into the water head-first. Making that change can be a challenge.”
It hasn’t seem to bother Payne, who got his start in a trampoline tumbling class when he was 8 years old. He qualified for the Division II state meet last year, finishing 21st.
“Last year he really started doing well,” Perl said. “This year we did an 11-dive competition in preparation for the OCC meet and he had a 401. But to get 469, that is a huge leap forward.”
By his own admission, Payne was a little surprised to find himself atop the podium over the weekend. He beat runner-up Owen McConnell of Wooster by whopping 65.5 points.
“I was kind of in shock. I really wasn’t expecting it,” Payne said. “I was just trying to focus on the things I can control.
“I try not to focus too much on scores because judges will judge differently at every competition you go to. My focus was on executing each dive to the best of my ability.”
The swimming and diving postseason will begin in early-February with the state tournament set for Feb. 23 to 26 in Canton. Last year’s Division II state champ, Angus Williams of Gates Mills Hawken, won with a total of 483.0.
“Different judges score things differently so it’s hard to tell how a score from one meet translates to another,” Perl said. “At the very least, this is a big confidence-builder for Will and confidence is a big thing on the diving side. Diving is so mental and you have that confidence going in, that can be the difference between making it out of the first round.”
Payne has his sites set on C. T. Branin Natotorium, home of the swimming and diving championships.
“My goal is to make it back to the state tournament,” he said. “Hopefully I can use (the OCC tournament) as a springboard.”
