Heading into the last three dives of the PIAA Class 3A state diving championships, Freedom senior Cody Smith lingered at the top of the leaderboard, and after performing his inward 2 ½, clinched the gold medal on March 12 at Bucknell University.

Coincidentally, state silver medalist North Allegheny’s Ethan Maravich saved the same 3.1 degree-of-difficulty dive for last.

“Going into the last three, I was talking to Ethan, and he had the same (last) dive,” Smith said. “I had some nerves even though I was 20 to 25 points ahead, but I still had to nail those. I just wanted to do [the inward 2 ½ ] safely, so I kicked out a little soft so it wouldn’t be over or short.”

Smith was successful and outperformed 23 opponents with a score of 541.35 after 11 dives to be crowned the best in the state.

Maravich’s point score was 509.40.

“On his final three, Cody locked in and did the best he could,” said Freedom diving coach Mark Parry. “Obviously, he pulled away, but the sport is so subjective, and it got closer than we were expecting. At one point, the gap was only 14 points. That’s when the pressure kicks in.”

But Smith is known for his uncanny ability to keep outward emotion in check and dive like it’s any other day.

“The calmness he had throughout the whole meet- he dove better than ever,” Coach Parry said.

Of Smith’s reverse 1 ½ 1 ½ with a 2.6 degree of difficulty, the state champ said, “It was a little short on entry, but the judges liked it more than I expected.”

Smith said he was very happy with his reverse 2 ½, a 3.0 degree of difficulty, that was good throughout the season.

“My confidence was building at the beginning,” he said. “My first five went extremely well. My middle dives were not the greatest, and my last dives went well. There was pressure at times during the middle three.”

The celebration was a three-step process for Smith.

“Once I got that last dive in and knowing it went very well, and watching Ethan do the same dive I did, I knew it wasn’t quite as good,” said Smith. “After that, when I walked over to Coach Mark and Hayden.”

(Freedom diver Hayden Taylor won the girls meet.)

After spending four years with Smith and Taylor, Coach Parry said that seeing the state champs reach the pinnacle of their high school careers was super surreal.

“Cody and Hayden are the first diving state champs from Freedom ever,” Parry said. “History was made, and being part of that and District XI is a proud moment for me.”