Mitch Calvert
Molly Carlson now has a spot on the Canadian national team to show for her dedication to the sport of diving.
The 10-year-old recently wrapped up competition at the Speedo Junior National Diving Competition in Victoria, B.C., where she claimed a silver in the three-metre springboard event and two fourths in the one-meter and platform competitions.
The highlight of the weekend came after her events were completed, however, when she was announced as one of 30 athletes named to the Canadian junior diving team which will compete at the 2009 Pan-American Junior Diving Championships in Calgary Sept. 10-13.
“I didn’t do as well as I thought I could, but then I guess they thought I did well enough to make the team,” Carlson said via phone on her way home to Thunder Bay.
Carlson, who moved to Thunder Bay in 1999 along with her mother Kathleen (who was originally married to Jason Carlson here and has since married Jon Cuthbertson), has two sets of grandparents living in Fort Frances, including Pam Carlson and Dick and Jane Trivers.
Carlson is in just her second year in the sport and now has two national medals to her record—including a bronze in last summer’s platform competition.
“After four dives she was in 12th [in the platform event this year],” Carlson’s mom, Kathleen Cuthbertson, said.
“She was so nervous and went in as a medalist from last year so the pressure was so high, so maybe she buckled under that,” Cuthbertson reasoned.
“But halfway through her list of dives she started getting all these great scores and climbed her way back up to fourth, which was remarkable.
“I had to leave the room for a little bit,” Cuthbertson admitted. “Until the last diver, she had a bronze medal, but that’s how it goes.”
Carlson finished with 213.90 points, but had just 73.80 after her first three dives before finishing with a combined 140 points over her final three. Carlson’s Thunder Bay Diving Club teammate, Rylee Mose, ranked 10th in the platform with 185.40 points.
Dominique Cadieux from Edmonton took gold with 245.30 points, silver went to Megan St-Onge of Quebec (221.15) and bronze to Noemie Laprise from Quebec (216.30).
In the three-meter event on Friday, Carlson had a total score of 266.50 points to claim silver while the fifth-place total went to Mose with 230.35.
Emily Schmidt of Calgary took gold in the competition with 282.30 points, and bronze was earned by Cadieux of Edmonton (252.85).
“I was really surprised I did that well in the three metre, as I didn’t think I’d beat [Dominique],” Carlson admitted. “She was a really strong diver.”
In their opening event last Thursday, the one-metre springboard, Carlson had a total score of 223.80 points after seven dives to finish fourth, with Mose finishing 18th (173.35).
Schmidt took the gold there as well with 257.95 points, followed by Cadieux (257.85) and Lindsay Leonard of Quebec (235.20).
Meanwhile, Carlson’s 12-year-old sister, Megan, had success of her own in the pool at the Man./Sask. provincial swim meet in Winnipeg last week.
She swam to three national qualifying times (400m free, 400m IM, and 200m IM) and hauled in a gold, six silver, and a fourth-place finish for her efforts.
Needless to say the two sisters were setting off metal detectors going through customs on Monday.
“[Megan] kind of took everyone by surprise because no one expected her to qualify for nationals,” Cuthbertson said.
“The coach didn’t train her for that and it’s this weekend, so it would be a disastrous experience for her to go last minute like that, but she’s all qualified for nationals next year.”
So what is it about the two sisters that makes them such naturals in all things aquatic?
“I am beginning to wonder where these kids came from,” Cuthbertson laughed.
“We spent a lot of time up at the Bujold’s Greensides [General] Store in Devlin, that’s Molly’s dad’s family, and they have a place on the lake,” she reasoned.
“They spent a lot of time there, but not really much time in a pool until we got to Thunder Bay.”
