By Frank Bonner II
For The Tribune

BLOOMINGTON

Seymour diver Devin Ramsey thought that he would just be an average diver when he first joined the Owls swim team his freshman year, but back-to-back top-two finishes at the Bloomington North Diving Regional proves what kind of diver he really is.

Ramsey followed last year’s regional title with a second-place finish Tuesday. He was in first place at the end of the fifth round, but Franklin’s Gauge Creech came back to win the title.

Creech ended with a 436.55 score, and Ramsey finished with a 415.05. The top eight finishers advanced to Saturday’s state meet at IUPUI’s Indiana University Natatorium.

“It’s a great feeling,” Ramsey said. “I was willing to pull it off, and I’m ready to go on to state. I felt like I nailed some (dives). Some of them we need to work on for IUPUI.”

One of the main things that Ramsey will be trying to fine tune before the state meet is making sure that he is jumping more vertically off the board instead of horizontally on some of his dives to improve his score. He also will be working on his foot placement on the board leading up to Saturday.

Ramsey placed 13th as a sophomore in last year’s state meet. Diving coach Tara Sutherland said they would like to be in the top eight this year, but they are more focused on making sure he stays consistent and trying to calm the nerves as much as possible.

“That’s really overwhelming when you walk in,” Sutherland said of the state meet. “Another year of experience for that so when we come back (his) senior year we can just sweep.”