Last year, Eagle River's Jami Stone broke the state girls' 1-meter diving record. This year, the senior has a bigger goal.
"For state, I really want to break the boys' record — that is my goal," Stone said. "I'm hoping I can break that."
Stone competed Thursday at Bartlett in the preliminaries of the Cook Inlet Conference swimming and diving championships, where she scored 208.70 points for five dives.
That score beats her 2014 prelim score at the region meet by 9.4 points, putting her on track to break her CIC record of 471.9.
Her state record is 474.70, also set last year. To beat the boys' record, Stone has to surpass the record of 517.25 set in 1982 by Chugiak's Alvin Spencer.
Her coach, Chad Frichtl, a former Division I diver for Alabama, said Stone has a dive list comparable to a college sophomore. He said she has dives she's been practicing that can surpass the boys' state record.
"She could definitely beat the boys' state record," Frichtl said. "No girl has ever done (these dives) before, no guys has ever done them before."
Stone's first dive wasn't the best of the group Thursday, but she pulled away with more difficult dives later in the competition.
For her fourth dive, Stone performed a front two-and-a-half pike with a 2.6 degree of difficulty.
"Girls don't do that," Frichtl said. "That's why I'm so proud that she was able to showcase that."
Stone completed a reverse one-and-a-half twist for her final dive — a dive Frichtl said no other girls and only one boy in Alaska are attempting. Last year, Jami's state score of 474.70 beat the top boys score of 462.95 by Wasilla's Brayden Schachle.
"She's taken on some of the biggest and best (dives) and I think that's what's made her better than all the boys last year and given her the state record," Frichtl said. "This year we have just worked on making her so technically sound that no one can take any points away from her unless she gives them up. For instance, she's turned dives from tucks into pikes."
Part of Stone's success comes from her ability to handle the mental aspect of the sport. She said she talks to herself to calm herself down as she climbs onto the diving board.
"I get up there and tell myself, like, 'This is your dive, you're going to throw it and it's going to be perfect,' " Stone said. "I just tell myself those things and afterward it's like, maybe it wasn't perfect, but I can feel confident to do it again and make it better the next time."
Stone said she's considering diving at the collegiate level, but she hasn't decided on a school yet. For now, her focus is Saturday's competition and the state championships Nov. 6-7 at Bartlett.
"I'm hoping to throw a really big dive at state," Stone said. "We'll see if I get it."
Stone owns a 36-point lead over South's Savana Trueb. In the boys competition, Bartlett's Ethan Larson took a commanding early lead with a score of 167.85, nearly 40 points ahead of second-place Luke Butler of East.
Larson is also coached by Frichtl, a former state champion diver from Chugiak who coaches divers at both Bartlett and Eagle River.
Larson, Fritchl said, "wants the gold medal for our region more than anything in the world. He is going to be the boy to watch."
Thursday's diving preliminaries
Girls 1-meter diving -- 1, Stone, Jami, Eagle River, 208.70. 2, Trueb, Savana, South, 172.75. 3, Wagner, Kendall, West, 149.45. 4, Lockard, Lara, Dimond, 136.30. 5, Johnson, Mariah, East, 115.55. 6, Yancey, Annika, Chugiak, 101.95. 7, Cook, Madison, South, 99.80. 7, Requa, Caroline, Dimond, 99.80. 9, Martynowicz, Natalia, Service, 83.05. 10, Beal, Madison, Chugiak, 75.75. 11, Wedlich, Julia, South, 54.04.
Boys 1-meter diving -- 1, Larson, Ethan, Bartlett, 167.85. 2, Butler, Luke, East, 128.35. 3, Dannenberg, Holt, West, 126.75. 4, Gessner, Soren, Service, 119.35. 5, Min, Daniel, Eagle River, 113.95. 6, Brayton, Jack, Dimond, 111.85. 7, Beach, Quinton, Eagle River, 105.60. 8, Walatka, John, West, 74.90.
Note: This article has been edited to reflect that Alvin Spencer, not Allen, holds the boys record.