Utica High grad earns All-American diving honors as Wayne State freshman By Jon Malavolti Cassie Chetosky capped off an impressive freshman diving campaign for Wayne State University at the March 12-15 NCAA Division II swimming and diving finals in Columbia, Mo. Chetosky, a graduate of Utica High School, finished in seventh place in the three-meter and 13th place in the one-meter competitions, earning first-team and honorable-mention All-American honors, respectively. “I was really excited about it — that as a freshman I was able to accomplish that,” Chetosky said. “I wasn’t even expecting to make it to nationals. It all kind of just fell into place.” But it wasn’t that simple. Chetosky said she put a lot of hard work into practice and training sessions, and Wayne State swim coach Sean Peters noticed her impressive work ethic early on. “Cassie is one of those individuals that is so determined,” Peters said. “She’s one of these athletes who has ice water in her veins. She’s a very, very strong-willed competitor — certainly somebody that you could tell when she walked in and started competing and practicing that she had something special about her.” Chetosky, who also finished in second place in both events at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships this season, credited a lot of her success to the tutelage of Wayne State diving coach Kelly LaCroix. “If it wasn’t for her, I definitely wouldn’t have done as well as I did,” Chetosky said. “She had to push me to learn new things and to just keep working through the times I was sick or didn’t feel at the top of my game.” Chetosky said her goals include returning to the national finals the next few years, and hopefully, taking a title — a more than feasible goal considering the six competitors who finished ahead of her in the three-meter competition, five were seniors and one was a junior. “You always hope for better and better each season, and that’s certainly what we’d like to see out of Cassie, and I’m sure she’d like to see that out of herself.” Peters said. “And quite frankly, I think she has it in her to take it to that next level, where she is top eight on both boards at nationals and competing for the conference championship. She’s the real deal.” You can reach Sports Writer Jon Malavolti at jmalavolti@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1040. |
