Kentwood’s Jesse Denhert finishes season strong | Boys swim and dive

Published 3:18 pm Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Jesse Dehnert climbed onto the diving board out of curiosity but the Kentwood senior finished his high school career with a third place medal at state while setting a pair of school records.

Going into his freshman year at Kentwood Dehnert decided to give diving a chance after watching the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He joked that he avoided swimming because it looked too hard.

“I thought (diving) was cool, and that’s about it,” Dehnert said. “I thought I’d try it to see if I’d like it.”

His first two years on the team were nothing out of the ordinary, aside from an appearance at the district meet sophomore year. Then he decided to get serious about improving, which started with joining a club, where he was able to practice during the off-season.

“During my sophomore year I kept working to do better,” he said. “And the best way to get better is to do club and swim all year round.”

He started by joining Pacific Northwest Diving, where he was able to focus on various aspects of his diving which needed to improve, such as his form and technique.

“Some stuff came naturally,” he said. “That (his form) did not.”

He also worked with the club coaches on moving from feet first to head first dives, which earn more points. His dedication ultimately paid off when he entered his third season where he made large strides in his overall performance.

“I like the feeling when you have a clean dive,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to know for certain that you did well without checking the score.”

It was then he realized he had a shot at breaking the school’s diving record of 328 points for an 11-dive meet which had been set by Aaron Westin during the 1990-91 season.

The moment finally came on Jan. 8, 2011, where Dehnert scored 333.5 points during the Lakes Invitational in Lakewood, which qualified him for the Class 4A state meet. For him, fate couldn’t have picked a better date, as it was also his 17th birthday.

“I wanted to qualify for state for sure because I had a meet earlier in the year where I didn’t qualify,” he told the Reporter back in 2011. “So I really waned to. It wasn’t my primary thing, but, I had it in the back of my mind that I would possibly break the school record.”

In the post season a year ago he took first at the South Puget Sound League meet with a score of 328 points and eventually took seventh a state with 314 points.

Still, Dehnert said he was determined to break the school record again, this time for a six-dive event. As the season progressed, however, he said his score continued to hover just below the record of 269 points.

“That was kind of frustrating,” he said.

At the last six-dive meet of the season, he was able at last to tally a score of 273 points.

“It was interesting, because it was the last chance to break it and I wasn’t really worried about it anymore,” he said.

In 2011, Dehnert told the Reporter he hoped to accomplish two things his during his final swim season: Finish in the top five at state and break the 400 point mark, which was nearly 70 points higher than both his personal record and school record at the time.

A year before, he wouldn’t have even thought it was possible. But he had the determination and persistence to make it happen.

At the state meet in Federal Way Feb. 17-18, Dehnert secured third place with a score of 377.05 points, a 63 point improvement over his performance a year ago. During the preliminaries, however, he put together a 407.35 score at league, setting another school record for the 11-dive event.

“I’m happy with how I did,” he said of his third place at state. “It was a very close meet. It’s just fun.”

Although the season is over, he still competes for his club twice a week and hopes to join the team at Principia College, a Division III school in Elsah, Ill.

Not too bad for someone who climbed on the diving board four years ago to satisfy his curiosity.