Swimming: Alyssa Carestia, undefeated, leads Aberdeen Dive Team

Alyssa Carestia, a former gymnast, remained undefeated through four diving meets this season in the Central Maryland Dive League, while Amanda Kretschmer grabbed first place in just her second dive meet ever and Nicholas Mooney took first place in both meets last week. All three are members of the Aberdeen Dive Team.

Carestia had her best performance, earning a first place finish against a field of 11 girls in the 13-14 age group in a meet against Waugh Chapel. In her next meet, Carestia finished first again among 10 girls against the Crofton Diving Team. Her specialty dives are the forward two somersaults, backward somersault in a straight position and an inward somersault.

Kretschmer, a first-year diver and a gymnast at ACPR in Churchville, performed an excellent forward one somersault and full twisting back somersault en route to her first diving victory.

Mooney also remained undefeated this season with his third straight first place finish in the 11-12 boys age group. His specialty dives are his backward somersault and forward one somersault.

Other top performances in the Waugh Chapel meet included Grace Long and Alena Cymek (second place tie in 6 and younger); Kimball Ranken (first) and Ava Darling (second) in the 7-8 girls age group; Rocky Ramsland (second) in 7-8 boys and Jeffrey Kretschmer (third) in the 9-10 boys.

In the 11-12 girls division, Eden Taylor (second) followed Kretschmer's win while Alissa Lyons (third) turned in her best performance of the season. Charles McMeekin (second) and Brandon Sofia (third) scored some valuable points in the 13-14 boys division and Katie Culbertson (third) finished out the scoring in the 15-18 girls age group.

In the Crofton meet, Grace Long (first), Ava Darling (third), Katelynn Lyons and Jeffrey Kretschmer (first) paced the 10 and under divisions. Aberdeen swept the 11-12 age group as Eden Taylor won for the girls and Nick Mooney won the boys division. Lex Burris (third) also had his best meet of the season. Aberdeen also swept the 13-14 girls division as Carestia (first), Gracie Malin (second), and Briann Long (third) gave the team a boost. Finally, Hannah Malin was impressive in taking first place in the 15-18 girls age group and Katie Culbertson finishing third with her best score.

"The kids have been improving so much this year," Rick Culbertson, Aberdeen's dive coach, said. "This is our fourth year in existence competing against teams that have been around for over 30 years and our team has been competitive in every meet."

In two previous meets, Aberdeen also had many top placement performances.

In a meet with Crofton, the following places were earned. Winning firsts were Grace Long, Lindsay Culberston, Katelynn Lyons, Nick Mooney and Alyssa Carestia. Taking seconds were Alana Cymek, Kimball Rankin, Izzy Mooney, Jeffrey Kretschmer, Amanda Kretschmer and Katie Culbertson. Taking thirds were Rocky Ramsland, Leah Getz and Brandon Sofia.

In a meet with Severn River, Grace Long and Alyssa Carestia took first-place, Rocky Ramsland, Gracie Malin, Brandon Sofia and Hannah Malin took second and Alissa Lyons, Charles McMeekin and Katie Culbertson placed third.

The Aberdeen Dive Team is the only diving team in Harford County and is open to kids from both Harford and Cecil counties between the ages of 4 to 18. Divers must complete between two to six different dives (or jumps) depending on their age group. The final home meet is July 24 at the Aberdeen Swim Center starting at 6:30 p.m.