CANTON — Ron Kontura has been a fixture in American competitive diving for more than three decades.
The head coach of Mount Vernon High School’s two-year-old diving program, who has also served as Kenyon College’s head diving coach since 2017, Kontura has developed divers at nearly every level.
He’s coached collegiate national champions, high school and college all-Americans, and Junior Olympics national champions. He’s coached at seven colleges and universities, including Kenyon, Ohio State, the United States Military Academy in West Point, California-Berkeley, Illinois State, Michigan and Allegheny.
He’s coached at two Olympic Trials. He’s served as chairman of USA Masters Diving, and he’s served on the USA Diving Rules Committee.
He knows diving. And he couldn’t be more proud of the young man he brought to C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton on Tuesday.
“He has the least diving experience of everyone in this meet by far. By far,” Kontura said afterwards, glancing at his Division I state qualifier. “And he’s here and he did well.”
Mount Vernon senior Tyler Davidson, who began diving two years ago and made history this season by becoming his school’s first state qualifier, finished 28th out of 32 competitors in the Division I state tournament Tuesday. He recorded a five-dive total of 163.45 points, finishing strong on Ohio’s biggest stage.
“Tyler is very new to the sport, and this was a great learning opportunity for him – a great building opportunity for him,” Kontura said.
“You have two divers in this meet who are finalists at USA Diving Junior Internationals. And so it’s a very competitive group of divers here, and I can’t create or coach an experience like this. So what he learns here will stay with him as he grows as a diver.”
The first cut in the state tournament occurs after the fifth round of dives, when only the top 20 scorers are allowed to move on. Davidson, who hovered between 25th and 28th throughout Tuesday afternoon, did not make the cut. He finished 7.25 points short.
Still, the senior said he felt pleased with his performance. He appeared increasingly comfortable as the meet went along, rattling off a series of impressive dives to finish the afternoon.
“It was a lot colder than I expected, so I was a little shaky in the beginning. But I feel like it was more (about) just building the confidence on these boards. And as the warmups came to a close, I was in a good spot,” said Davison, who came into the state meet seeded 27th.
“And on the first dive … it was just a shaky first dive, just because it was the first one in the competition. But after that, I came back. It started feeling good again.
“Even though I was cut earlier than I would like it to be, I still really enjoyed it and it was definitely something that I’ll remember for a long time.”
Davidson was Knox County’s only state qualifier in swimming and diving this year. Ten student-athletes from Mount Vernon and one from Centerburg made it to districts, but Davidson was the only one to punch a ticket to Canton.
He was Mount Vernon’s first state qualifier since 2015, when Robert Williams placed 12th in the 200-yard freestyle and 15th in the 100-yard freestyle.
Steve Sant, in his first season as Mount Vernon’s head swimming coach, noted the importance of Davidson’s state qualification from a program perspective. He said it will show Mount Vernon’s underclassmen that “with hard work, it’s possible to move on.”
“Tyler’s been a great leader for those younger kids,” Sant said.
Several of Davidson’s teammates were in attendance on Tuesday. The senior said he wouldn’t have been able to make history without them.
“I’m really happy with myself and happy with my teammates that came along the way,” Davidson said. “Because even though they couldn’t come with me (as qualifiers), I still had some great people around me through the entire season, and even now. I have one diver that dove with me who got to come and watch (today), which was really exciting.
“I feel like it was just really exciting and really memorable.”
Kontura believes the impact of Davidson’s state trip this year will resonate well beyond Mount Vernon.
“This is great for central Ohio, for Knox County and for a lot of the rural cities (in Ohio). There’s already people from other towns coming up and asking me, ‘Hey, can we do diving in Dresden? Hey, can we do diving here?’ And so this is like a spark, from my perspective,” Kontura said.
“I hope it grows. And it’s gonna benefit all of central Ohio from that perspective. I’m just fortunate that Kenyon lets me have the opportunity to do this for Mount Vernon and for the community of Knox County. That’s really important.”
Davidson’s road to Canton was anything but conventional.
The senior qualified for districts by placing fifth at the Ohio Cardinal Conference tournament on Jan. 14 (the top six made the cut). He then claimed the eighth and final state spot in the Division I Central District Tournament on Thursday, finishing 17.3 points ahead of the next-closest competitor.
But he made it. And he made history in the process. Davidson said he’ll never forget his senior season – and the last two years in general.
“It is absolutely baffling. I never even expected to go to districts this year. I was just going off of like, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ And so it’s just absolutely surreal getting this far and being able to continue it and do something that I’ve found I’ve really enjoyed,” said Davidson, who now plans to dive in college after falling in love with the sport over the last two years.
“It’s just something that is out-of-this-world to me.”
College coaches were in attendance to watch Davidson in Canton on Tuesday. Given his growth over such a short period of time, Kontura called the senior’s ceiling high.
“For Tyler, the sky’s the limit,” Kontura said. “I mean, he’s just starting right now. He’s got a lot of potential. So it’s gonna be a lot of fun to watch him grow – not only as a diver, but as a human. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Click here for full results from Tuesday’s Division I diving tournament.
