There is no other way to put it: Foxes’ junior diver Jonah Cagley is simply amazing.
This season alone, and twice in one week, Jonah broke the old Fox Chapel Area High School diving record that he set last year – by nearly 50 points. He also he drew two rare perfect scores in one day. The first 10 came for his reverse dive in pike position and the other was for a forward one-and-a-half somersault with two twists in the free position.
Jonah says, “It was a really cool experience,” to get scores that high, but in the same breath demonstrates genuine team camaraderie by pointing out that freshman standout David Manelis scored a ten too.
“In the decade I’ve coached at Fox Chapel Area, I’ve only seen about four perfect scores awarded before this season, so for two of our divers to get three perfect scores this year is thrilling,” says Coach Vernon Yenick.
In all, Jonah, the reigning WPIAL champion, has broken four of his own pool and school records during the 2017-2018 season. He also tops the WPIAL AAA boys’ qualifiers’ list with a score of 376.30, making him the favorite going into the Saturday, February 24, WPIAL Class AAA diving championships at North Allegheny High School. If Jonah succeeds in winning the gold medal again, he will be the first WPIAL boys’ diver to do so since the 2009-2010 season.
Looking ahead, he’s also been pegged as one of the favorites in the upcoming PIAA championships. He brought home the bronze medal last year.
But the outgoing diver, who jokes that he gave up swimming early on, partly because “it was too repetitive and you can’t talk when you’re underwater,” doesn’t think too much about the rankings or the pressure of competing.
“I’m going into WPIALs for the third time and, hopefully states for the third time too,” Jonah, 17, says. “There’s a little bit of pressure to perform well at WPIALs, but I think I perform well under pressure and I’m not too concerned about that aspect of the competition. I focus my energy more on doing my dives well and doing harder dives.”
With the larger competitions in mind, Jonah has increased his capacity to do more difficult aerial tricks and perfect his mainstay dives. He attributes his success to a combination of intensified strength and conditioning and simply gaining maturity that comes from experience.
“I think it’s partly because I’m growing and I’m stronger,” says the 5’10” diver who spends as much, if not more time, working out, practicing, and competing with the elite Pitt Aquatics Club. “I’ve been doing a lot of ab and legwork and more cardio. I definitely see a difference from last year because I’m getting higher jumps and faster spins.”
Coach Yenick agrees, saying, “Even Jonah’s demeanor on the board shows growth, maturity, and an increased attitude of aggressiveness where he really attacks his dives. For example, last year on his forward 1.5 with two twists, he got a score of 4.5. This year he got a 10. That’s how much he’s improved.”
Jonah pushes himself even more by continuing to dive in high-level USA Diving competitions during the high school season. While he’s gotten to the level where he is mainly competing against himself during most high school meets, it’s a different story at the regional and national levels.
“There’s a bigger pool of divers and it’s harder,” says the honors student who carries a load of Advanced Placement classes each semester. “The talent is inspiring and it helps me because I want to keep up with them.”
“Jonah has been on fire and he’s peaking at the right time,” Coach Yenick says of his protégé. “You can just see when he gets up on the board that he’s going to do something incredibly good.”
A lot of people will be very interested in seeing what Jonah does when he climbs onto the WPIAL diving board once again. They will be expecting quite a show, and Jonah’s Foxes’ coach has no doubt that spectators will get one.