Freedom sophomore Cody Smith was awarded the silver medal at the District XI Class 3A Diving Championships with a score of 368.55 on Feb. 24 at Emmaus High School.

“It was touch and go the whole meet,” Freedom coach Mark Parry laughed. “In all honesty, it was super, super, super competitive. It was so close between seventh and first, incredibly close the whole time, but Cody was always in the mix, in the upper echelon of that mix, and the goal was states and he smashed it out of the park, so I’m very happy about that.”

Smith’s eighth of 11 dives, an inward 1 1/2, scored 40.7, his highest score of the day.

“I was surprised by the high score of my eighth dive because it had not been great at my other meets,” said Smith. “Once I was under the water, I knew it was better than the other ones I’ve done.”

But Smith’s best dives were yet to come.

“Going into the third break, he started getting a little anxious, and I had to tell him, I said these last three dives are your bread and butter. These are your best three dives, and we put them at the end for a reason. Just go out, have fun, do what you know how to do, and we’ll take home a medal,” Coach Parry said.

A front twist, a front double pike, and a front 2 1/2 scored 30.8, 39.1, and 37.2.

“They are three of my highest difficulties and they’re three I’ve been working for awhile,” said Smith. “I kept working the same dives, and I just had to get them consistent. At the start of the season, the only goal was top five in the district, but I just kept moving up places.”

Smith and Kunz will compete at the PIAA State Diving Championships in March.

“Cody knew he was going to have to fight to get to states,” Parry said. “We knew this was going to be a dogfight with five people and only two can go in, so the fact that he’s one of the two, I’m overjoyed and so proud and I’m just happy our season goes for another three weeks.”

Parkland’s Bradley Kunz won district gold with a score of 370.10.

Northampton’s Alex Szeplaki placed third with a score of 353.90, and teammate Andrew Szeplaki placed fourth with a score of 346.80.

Liberty’s Jaxson Dorsey came in seventh with a score of 321.00, and teammate Zivon De Los Santos placed 11th with a score of 276.30, both coached by Emily Kocis.