By Josh Bell
It was a dazzling debut on the international scene for Kathryn Grant and a fourth medal in three appearances for Henry McKay as the local divers both brought back bronze from the Oct. 8-11 Pan American Junior Diving Championships in Cuba.
“I was a little nervous, because it was really big,” signals Grant, 11. “But, I just went for the experience and I did really well, so it was really fun.”
The Ottawa National Diving Club athlete says she was able to handle the pressure “just by listening to my coach, really just focusing on what I could do, and knowing that I would do great.”
Grant’s medal-winning performance came in the 3-metre springboard event, while she placed 4th in both the 1 m and platform to finish 3rd overall out of Group D (age 10-11) women.
“I was so happy,” recounts the reigning Canadian champion for her age group. “I was so proud of myself. It was all so amazing.”
McKay, meanwhile, lifted his career medal count to one gold and three bronze at the Jr. Pan Ams.
“I was really excited, but I think I could have done better,” indicates the Nepean-Ottawa Diving Club competitor, thinking back to his 2013 gold. “I just had a couple mistakes here and there. But I’m always happy to represent Canada and have another medal.”
Following a 4th-place finish on 3 m, McKay came up huge on his final dive in the 1 m event to leap past a Cuban athlete and onto the podium by just .3 points with his total score of 370.5.
“That’s super small. I’m very lucky I got that,” underlines McKay, who hopes to qualify for the Canadian Olympic team trials through the Dec. 18-20 Winter Senior National Championships in Saskatoon.
“It was pretty intense,” he adds. “On my third dive I kind of messed up so then I had even more determination on my last dive. I knew that I had to do really awesome. And then I came through and won the bronze.”