November 7, 2016

One by one, Tricia Arceri is reaching her goals. The Huntington High School junior captured the Suffolk County diving championship last Friday night, setting a new Section XI record by notching a score of 618.10.

The Blue Devil star is headed to the New York State swimming and diving championships at Ithaca College on November 18-19.

The Huntington teenager bested a talented field at Hauppauge last Friday in a tense competition. Eight Section XI divers met the state qualifying standard and will be going to the New York intersectional finals in Ithaca.

The competition at the Suffolk championships was fierce and included many skilled athletes, including Grace Reeves of Lindenhurst, one of the best divers in Section XI history. Arceri and Reeves ended up finishing 1-2.

“Going into the final group of dives the scores were close,” Arceri said. “The girl that had placed second had a little more of degree of difficulty, meaning I had to nail every dive. I am very consistent with my final dive and I knew I had to go out there and do it the best I ever could, so I did and I hit for 72 points. Beating my own score was great, but getting the county record is even better.”

This will mark Arceri’s third trip to the state championships, where she finished 14th last year. She’s coached by Meg McConnell and Chris Helmke.

“For these next two weeks I will be continuously working hard in practice,” Arceri said. “Hopefully with the hard work I put into this sport I will place on the podium, but with the difficult competition up there I will just take it one dive at a time.”