As a diver at a school with no diving board, freshman Eric Correa has been feeling a little overlooked.  “When people say we don’t have a diving team, I respond with ‘well now we do.’ ” After demolishing the record in diving at the Argo Invitational on Saturday, December 13, he’s not likely to be overlooked anymore.

The previous record at the Argo meet was 317 points; Correa’s final score was an astonishing 423.  In a diving competition, every dive has a different difficulty and is scored by the five judges. The lowest and the highest number from the judges cancel out, leaving three scores.  Then the average of those scores is multiplied by the difficulty of the dive to get a final score. Correa won the competition with what is called a “front dive pike.”

Going into his first meet, Correa “didn’t know what to expect,” but once he walked into the building and saw the record on the wall, he didn’t want to just win – he “wanted to beat the record.”

While he is a member of Mount Carmel’s swim team, Correa competes only as a diver, a sport which he has pursued for three years.  While that doesn’t seem like a lot of time to have developed such an ability, he practices three hours a day on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Lake Central High School in Indiana.

Correa is surprised at his success as a freshman.  “I knew coming in that I was at the bottom of the food chain, but it felt good having all the attention from the elders of the school.”

He attributes his quick success to his background in gymnastics.  “I was a gymnast for a long time, won multiple national championships when I was younger, but then I ran into some major health issues. I had multiple bulging disks, tendinitis in my feet multiple times within the year and a couple major knee injuries.”

Correa is not only an outstanding diver, but has shown he has acting talent in his role in Mount Carmel’s  fall play, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).” With his diverse talents, you can expect to see him in an upcoming stage performance, or on a diving board close to you.