CHRISTIANSBURG 鈥 Leighton McGee casually ascends the winding staircase that leads to the highest platform towering over the competition pool at Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
He takes but a moment to eye his target before launching himself off the platform, twisting his body 180 degrees and rotating forward as he barrels downward, finishing his plunge with an echoing splash as he pierces the water.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just water,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to kill you.鈥
McGee鈥檚 introduction to competitive diving started from those heights, leaping off 10-meter platforms during his time overseas in Europe as he learned one of the more extreme sports out there. It helped lead the Blacksburg High School senior to link up with the Bruins swim and dive team this winter, using his skills as a pole vaulter to hopefully push the squad over the threshold needed as it looks to reclaim the Virginia High School League Class 4 state championship later this month.
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鈥淚 wanted to see if I could make it to state to try and get the team some extra points,鈥 McGee said. 鈥淭his is their last big year with senior divers, and they have a chance to win at state.鈥
Norway鈥檚 national pastime
A stop-action photography effect shows Blacksburg High School senior Leighton McGee practicing a forward dive into a tuck position during training Thursday at Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
McGee admitted he grew bored of Blacksburg a few years ago and sought an opportunity to experience a different location, beyond the United States, and searched for a student exchange program he could take advantage of.
He found one that wound up taking him to Norway, a country in which his father previously lived. With his parents鈥 blessing, McGee traveled the 4,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to a city outside Oslo, where he spent his junior year.
One day, observing the pool that was next door from where he lived, he noticed young kids performing 鈥渃razy flips鈥 off staggering heights. It was there that he became acquainted with the sport of death diving. He was already drawn to activities that get him hopping.
鈥淚 always liked jumping,鈥 he said. 鈥淧ole vaulting you get off the ground a good bit, diving you get off the ground a little bit. Everything that makes me bounce, I like.鈥
, invented in Norway in the early 1970s, involves jumping off a 10-meter platform and holding a pose, if it鈥檚 the formal version of the sport, or performing a trick move if it鈥檚 the freestyle version, before hitting the water in a cannonball or pike position. Scores are given based on judges鈥 ratings of uniqueness, straightness of the body and how long poses are held, among other factors.
The world championship has taken place in Oslo every year since the event debuted in 2008.
鈥淚n Norway, a lot of the freestyle is seeing how close you can get to belly-flopping or back-flopping,鈥 McGee said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 kind of what death diving is; getting really close to a belly flop, and then you pike last second.鈥
Bringing death diving back to Blacksburg
Blacksburg High School dive team senior Leighton McGee.
Chris Reilly is only slightly terrified when McGee takes a leap off the top platform at Christiansburg Aquatic Center and plummets to the pool below.
Three feet is the height he鈥檚 used to coaching at, not 33.
鈥淗e鈥檚 fearless,鈥 Reilly said. 鈥淗e鈥檒l get on the 10-meter and do a death dive. He鈥檒l do flips and he鈥檒l enter the water, and I cringe when I watch him do it.鈥
The longtime head coach of the Blacksburg swim and dive program was unfamiliar with McGee before McGee joined the team this season. But Reilly needed just two dives from him to detect what he could bring to the squad. The Bruins鈥 diving-specific coaches, stellar athletes themselves, saw it as well.
鈥淲e have incredible diving coaches, and they are just in awe of watching this kid who鈥檚 never dove, except for messing around up in Norway, come in and do stuff on the boards. It鈥檚 really pretty cool to watch,鈥 Reilly said. 鈥淭hey were actually talking about that if he had started earlier, he鈥檇 be close to the Olympics, because he鈥檚 got that much talent.鈥
From the springboard, Blacksburg High School鈥檚 Leighton McGee pulls into the tuck position.
When McGee returned to Virginia, he was set on making pole vault his exclusive discipline. Having cleared 13 feet this winter, he’s tied for the seventh best mark in Class 4, according to . But it was Reilly’s son, senior freestyle swimmer Sam Reilly, who helped convince him to add diving to his ledger, even sweetening the pot with a $5 incentive.
鈥淵eah of course,鈥 Sam Reilly said with a smile. 鈥淚鈥檇 do anything to get him going.鈥
The Bruins wanted to add one more participant to an already solid corps of divers, including senior Theo Villanueva, the defending state champion, and sophomore Soren Anderson, who placed third in VHSL Class 4 last year, to boost their chances at this year鈥檚 state meet.
McGee was a quick learner.
鈥淗e could鈥檝e done everything day one, so to see what he can do now is amazing,鈥 Sam Reilly said. 鈥淚t takes time to get good, but he already had such a high starting level, so who knows where it could鈥檝e taken him.鈥
Blacksburg High School dive team member Leighton McGee falls backward into his dive from the 5-meter platform at Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
While McGee is still competing for Blacksburg鈥檚 indoor track team 鈥 the Class 4 state meet takes place Feb. 26-27 at Liberty University 鈥 he said there鈥檚 plenty about the event that transfers well to diving, such as the use of a hurdle leg that provides extra height as you prepare to leap.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l run up and bring your leg up, and then put pressure on the pole, get a good jump in, and that鈥檒l help you get off the ground easier,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o they correlate a lot actually.鈥
The biggest learning curve of going one from sport to the other, Chris Reilly said, is how McGee finishes. Where in pole vault, you launch yourself over the bar and land on your back, in diving, you land vertically.
鈥淗ere he has to have his toes pointed and enter the water either head-first or feet-first with his arms by his side,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o I think that鈥檚 been the thing that he鈥檚 had to learn a little bit more.鈥
Proving himself at state meet
From the springboard, Blacksburg High School diver Leighton McGee pulls into a tucked dive.
In Virginia, the high school state dive meet usually takes place one or two days before the state swim meet. This year, the dive competition is scheduled for Feb. 14 at Hampton Virginia Aquaplex, while the swim event is slated for Feb. 16 at SwimRVA, Collegiate School Aquatics Center in Richmond.
That means any points earned during the dive competition, which go toward the overall team score, give that team a bit of a head start heading into the swimming.
鈥淲e can start off with maybe a 30- or 40-point lead before any swimmer ever enters the water,鈥 Chris Reilly said. 鈥淲hich, when we鈥檙e trying to win state, that鈥檚 a huge weight off our shoulders.鈥
McGee aims to contribute to that early tally. While not the front-runner to win state diving, he can tack on some valuable points that could prove crucial down the stretch.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really care about me, I鈥檓 just more worried about Blacksburg High School and state,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o as long as I can get a few points and knock off second place, it鈥檚 going to be a very close battle for first.鈥
Blacksburg High School鈥檚 Leighton McGee does a backward flip from the platform.
Chris Reilly said he鈥檚 confident in McGee鈥檚 ability to contend for a top-five finish and even challenge for the title. It鈥檒l prove that an athlete with a concentration in an entirely different sport can succeed in aquatics.
鈥淵ou never thought, 鈥榃ell, how can a pole vaulter be a diver?鈥欌 he said. 鈥淲ell, he鈥檚 going to show everyone how it can happen.鈥
