Two swimmers headed for states

by Eric Keppeler
Grand Island Dispatch, March 2, 2007

One’s a junior and one’s a senior.

One’s a swimmer and one’s a diver.

One’s never been to states before and the other is a two-time defending state champion.

But the one thing that Joshua Kaplan and Ian O’Rourke have in common is that they’ll both be representing Grand Island this weekend at the New York State Swimming and Diving Championship at the Eric Community College Flickinger Center in Buffalo.

The 11th grader Kaplan, competing in the state tournament for the first time, will swim the 100-meter backstroke, while O’Rourke will try to defend his diving crown.

“I think it’s outstanding,” said Grand Island swim coach Rob Collard. “To qualify for the state meet is just a tremendous accomplishment – not very many people get to do it.”

Kaplan qualified for the state meet by hitting the magic time during the regular season in the Niagara Frontier League.

He says that qualifying early took all of the pressure off of him, so he could just concentrate on his swimming, and he’s dropped even more time as the season progressed.

He’s not about to start putting pressure on himself now, hoping only to compete to the best of his ability at the state meet.

“I’m just going to go out there and swim my best, try to drop my time even more,” Kaplan said. “This year, I’m thinking more about improving my time than where I place. If I can get the time where I like it, next year I’ll worry about where I place.”

O’Rourke is a three-time All-America selection and has won four straight NFL diving titles, three consecutive Section VI titles, two state crowns – and last year, he added a Federation title to his resume.

His string of consecutive sectional titles was snapped last weekend by Lancaster’s Nate Geary, who scored a Sweet Home pool record 575.70. O’Rourke was right behind at 569.60, and North Tonawanda’s Shawn Hoffman – another returning state competitor – was third at 543.80.

Any one of those three could win a state title, Collard says.

“Geary beating Ian last week is not an upset,” Collard said. “He’s been on the scene for six years and he’s a phenomenal diver – he always has been. This year, he added a few new dives and he’s been more consistent. But any one of those three guys is capable of winning the state meet. It’s just a matter of who puts together the best package consistently.”

Collard says he doesn’t expect O’Rourke to feel any extra pressure this week after not winning sectionals. Motivation won’t be a problem – and besides, says Collard, what more does he have to prove?

“I’m very happy with the way Ian’s been diving,” Collard said. “He’s been very consistent, very clean and with good execution. Not winning sectionals last week won’t add or take away from his motivation. He just wants to do his best no matter what. I know he’ll represent Grand Island to the best of his ability.”