Boys’ diving: Cohen cools off the competition at City Section finals

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Man, it was really hot out there today. I realize Woodland Hills has a knack for being the Valley’s hot spot, but with the 95-degree heat and constant wind, if felt as if the City Section diving championships were being held in Littlerock or Antelope Acres -- not Pierce College.

Of course, Birmingham’s Patrick Cohen did his best to distract everyone from the heat with one cool performance.

Cohen capped off his prep diving career in style, posting an impressive score of 471.10 to take the City Section diving title. Cohen outscored best friend and defending champion Alex Dashiell of Cleveland by nearly 80 points. I was told by City Section officials that it was one of the highest-point totals in section history, but no one knew for sure where it ranked all-time (it wasn’t a record or anything, though).

Cohen was obviously thrilled to take the title, considering he had to settle for third last year after finishing less than six points behind Dashiell. The Birmingham diving ace knew his close friend was the guy to beat and told me he thought the score would be much closer.

Consistency was one of the biggest reasons Cohen built such a big point cushion between himself and Dashiell. Cohen scored high on each of his dives while a couple slip-ups by Dashiell took him out of the title hunt.

But don’t take my word for it -- check out this video of Cohen showing off his winning form:

Also, click here for complete results.

-- Austin Knoblauch