By Eva Schacht
Executive Online News Editor
Walking into his first swim and dive meet of his senior year, Stephen Schmit knew that he was close to breaking Prospect’s 6 dive record set in 2012 by Andre Burck (217.10). By the end of the meet, Schmit was the new holder of the 6 dive record and only broke the record by a mere point.
Although the initial reaction came as a surprise to Schmit, he knew eventually he would break the record because of the scoring guidelines set into place this year. According to Schmit, the scoring was changed to make a dive score a higher number of points.
“[Breaking the record] was definitely a goal of mine,” Schmit said. “I’m happy to have broke it already this early [in the season].”
Schmit attributes a lot of his success to his teammates and head coach Antonino Bondi, who was also named Illinois’ Diving Coach of the Year.
Although Schmit isn’t soaking in the glory, Schmit knows that Anthony Liva will potentially break Schmit’s record later this season.
“We’re going to be neck and neck,” Schmit said.