CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) – The top female high school diver in Missouri, a sophomore at Cape Central High School, will not compete in the state-qualifying meet.
Both she and her teammate decided not to compete, and her dad stepped down as Cape Central’s Dive Coach, due to what they called dangerous conditions at the pool hosting the meet.
Tommy-Anne Marriott is the top diver, and instead of competing, she and her dad will be outside the pool in Springfield, Mo., trying to bring attention to diving boards that they said are not safe.
“This meet should be stopped,” said Delbert Marriott, Cape Central’s former dive caoch and Tommy-Anne’s dad. “There was no, none of the nonskid material that is required to be on a diving board.”
He took a photo of a diving board at the John H. Foster Natatorium in Springfield two weeks ago, before his daughter and her teammate pulled out of a scheduled swim meet.
“She immediately said there’s no way I can dive on these boards, so she got off the boards and did not attempt to do anything else, because she absolutely needs that grip. That is why it is a requirement,” he said.
Female, high school divers from across the state will be back at the same pool, using the same boards for the district meet on Feb. 11 and 12. That is why the Marriotts wanted to speak out about the diving board conditions.
“Why would you sacrifice the health of your daughter to score a point for the school,” said Marriott.
Cape Central’s Athletic Director, Tyson Moyers, said he agrees that the boards are not safe.
“The only real loser in this whole deal is our kids. It’s just unfortunate that they’re not going to be able to dive. We do have two very talented divers that we feel like would have progressed onto the state meet and done very well. But ultimately the safety of our athletes is the most important thing to us,” said Moyers.
Moyers said he shared his concerns with the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) and the Springfield Public School District.
MSHSAA officials sent us a statement and said, “On Monday, our office was contacted by a member school asserting that equipment to be used at a district diving site was not in compliance with rules of the sport. After meeting with the various individuals with intimate knowledge of the facility including but not limited to local school district administration and facility management, as well as consulting with the national high school rule-writing entity (the National Federation of State High School Associations) for the sport of swimming & diving, the school was informed Monday afternoon that the facility and equipment are legal and in accordance with the NFHS rules.”
KFVS checked the National Federation of State High School Association’s 2021-2022 handbook. One of the swimming and diving rules in the handbook reads, “the entire top surface shall be covered with a nonskid material.”
“I feel like everybody’s so worried about their jobs, and their livelihoods, and being the state champion, and scoring points for the school, and yes that’s all important but not at the sacrifice of one of the divers getting hurt,” said Marriott.
Cape Central’s Swim Coach sent an email of the photo of the diving board in question to its manufacturer, Duraflex International. A company employee replied to the photo and said, “I had my inspection manager look at the picture you sent. We do highly recommend this board be taken out of service and go through the refinish process or purchase a new board. It looks like most of the slip resistant surface is missing.”
KFVS12 reached out to Durflex International, and they would not make a comment about the diving board.
The Chief Communications Officer at the Springfield Public School District said they reviewed the diving board complaint and determined it to be unfounded.
”Safety is the number one priority of everyone who competes in the facility and certainly those of us who plan and host these types of competitions. If there was any concern regarding the safety, or if there was any feeling among all of those that we talked to that this specific complaint had any validity, we would not move forward,” said Stephen Hall, Chief Communications Officer at the Springfield Public School District.
The Missouri Girls Swimming and Diving Championship will be held February 17th-19th in St. Peters.
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