Etobicoke Diving Club members hit the pool last weekend.
Emilie Heymans goes into her back dive as she takes part in the 2010 Winter Senior National Diving Championships held on the weekend at The Etobicoke Olympium.
Staff photo/IAN KELSO
Faced with a city strike that shut down its rec programming over the summer and extensive renovations that kept its members out of the pool for nine months, the Etobicoke Diving Club (EDC) has seen more than its share of misfortune in recent years. But, as the old adage goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and judging by its showing at the Senior Winter National Championships last weekend, it's on the path to recovery.EDC sent five divers to the senior national event, hosted out of the Etobicoke Olympium from Thursday, Jan. 28 to Sunday, Jan. 31.That's four more than it sent just a year ago.What's more, of the five, four were making their debut at the senior meet.Alex Chan, Dylan Grisell, Frances Pogacar, Nicole Scott and Jessica Whellar all attended and all produced respectable results at the meet, which also doubled as a national team selection camp for the FINA Grand Prix in April and the Youth Olympic Games in August.Of course with world-class Canadian talent like Alexandre Depatie, Emily Heymans, Jennifer Abel and Riley McCormick competing, and monopolizing most of the medals, it kept the junior divers off the podium, but several still managed to qualify for semifinals and registered personal bests in the 3m, 10m and platform disciplines.Grisell, a member of the junior national team, made semifinals and finished 10th on the tower while Scott, who also participated in the 3m, finished 12th. "Dylan's a great performer, I think next year he's going to compete in both the junior and senior nationals," said club head coach Misha Kordyukov. Pogacar, battling an injury that kept her sidelined as per doctor's orders recently, performed a new dive on the tower. Pogacar, who qualified with strong results in Ottawa late last year, also competed in the 3m event last weekend. "She really couldn't do her best because of her injury, but she was fighting," added the coach. Scott had the best meet of her career on the tower. "She's doing very well for us right now."And finally, it was Whellar's first time competing in the 3m event. She made semifinals, but missed her final dive. She was in the top eight on the tower last year.Kordyukov, a diver in the Ukraine of the former Soviet Union from 1968 to 1980 who migrated to Canada in 1993 and took over as club head coach a year later, says the worst is behind the small-but-mighty Etobicoke club and based on recent meet results, its Olympic outlook moving toward 2012 looks promising. "It's hard to say because it's still a couple years away, but I think we look good""We're not a young club, but we've had our problems," he added, noting EDC lost a portion of its members after its home pool shut down for upgrades four years ago. "And then last summer we had a city strike just before the national. But every year we're getting better and better. We now have junior champions."