Pitman diver Sondeno hopes to make splash at first CIF State meet

Give Natasha Sondeno this: Even at 10, she was fearless.

Grace, body awareness and technical skill would come quickly, too, but not before a splashy introduction to the sport of diving.

Sondeno, a junior at Pitman High School, doesn’t remember much about the dive itself other than she over-rotated and entered the water with the force and mess of a fallen tree.

“It was really awkward,” she said with a laugh.

Look at her now.

That fallen tree has established her roots in diving and blossomed into one of the state’s best. That much was confirmed May 9 at the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals, where Sondeno placed fourth to qualify for the first CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships in Clovis.

The 11-dive program wasn’t her cleanest. She gets that and has used those scores to fuel daily three-hour workouts in Stockton in the days since.

“I did not have the best meet at sections. Fortunately, I was still able to make it with what I got,” Sondeno said. “I know I can do better. I just need to focus more on diving and the competition.”

Ah, the competition. The pool deck at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex on Friday and Saturday will be teeming with the best divers in the state. Perhaps some future Olympians, too.

While there have been club swimmers who have bowed out of the state meet to prepare for the long-course season and their Olympic run, Sondeno said the top divers have RSVPd for this weekend’s historic event.

“It’s going to be like a Junior Olympic competition. I have to look at it the same way,” said Sondeno, who is coached almost exclusively by Robert Wimberly of Delta Valley Diving in Stockton. “It can be kind of stressful, but at the same time it’s nice to have that stress. It reminds you that you have to do better, push harder and keep up with the others.”

Sondeno will be joined in Clovis by two Stanislaus District swimmers, Ripon Aquatics standouts Scott Tolman and Ty Wells.

A junior from Sierra, Tolman has qualified in two events. He’s seeded ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a qualifying time of 56.28 seconds and 12th in the 50 freestyle (21.3).

Wells, a Ripon freshman, will compete in the 100 butterfly, where he’s seeded 26th with a time of 51.68.

The two are longtime friends, club teammates and even share a job as junior coaches with the Manteca Dolphins youth program.

“We have a great group of boys right now,” said Erik Zador, the Ripon High and Ripon Aquatics swim coach. “In the last few months, they’ve gotten really close and become really competitive. They’re pushing each other, which is what you want.

“I think Scott is pretty excited that Ty will be there, and Ty feels the same way.”

In that respect, Sondeno’s pursuit at these state championships is acutely individualistic.

Pitman coach Toby Stonelake said the drive to be a better diver almost solely depends on the diver. Coaches can help, he added, but divers like Sondeno have to be willing to toe the line.

Are they willing to throw caution – and their bodies – to the wind, ignoring their limits and pain threshold? If the answer is yes, then they belong on that 1-meter board.

“It takes a certain level of curiosity, guts and overall mental fortitude. You have to have a strong mind to go up there and try something new; to get welts, bruises, land on your back or your side, and then shake it off and go up again,” Stonelake said. “It’s definitely a mental sport. There isn’t a coach going over everything. You’re the one pushing yourself.”

Sondeno doesn’t have to look far for motivation. She’s seeded 20th after posting a mediocre score of 382.65 at the section finals. Stonelake believes she has at least 30 more points in that set of dives.

Each diver completes 11 dives – five voluntaries and six optionals, which tend to be dives of greater degree of difficulty. The voluntaries are fundamental dives, such as the back dive and jump tucks.

Sondeno’s strengths are the voluntaries.

“That’s one area that we don’t have to work on a whole lot, because of how consistent she is,” Wimberly said. “She has an opportunity to score 7s to 9s on them every time she does them, which are very high scores.”

Her coaches agree: State should bring out the best in Sondeno, a former gymnast and swimmer.

The field will require nothing less.

Junior Carly Sherwood-Souza of West Ranch (Santa Clarita) is the favorite to win the first CIF state championship. The Junior Olympian and Speedo Nationals finalist’s qualifying score (564.55) is nearly 40 points better than the No. 2 seed, senior Olivia Rosendahl (524.95) of Immaculate Heart (Los Angeles).

“This is a great experience to go out and be competitive and try the best you can, but it’s also a great time to have some fun and feel out the event,” Stonelake said. “There’s a certain element that will be fun and new and exciting and different. But there’s another that says, ‘Hey, these are the best divers in the state and you’re one of them. Are you going to stand up?’”

Sondeno has been doing that since she was 10.

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Pitman diver Sondeno hopes to make splash at first CIF State meet."