The Liberty Hurricanes have a boost in number of divers this season, led by last year’s state qualifier Keller Pooley, and including one male diver, freshman James Hammershock.

“We haven’t had too many boys in the sport, so we’re very happy we have James,” said fifth-year head diving coach Emily Kocis. “He’s very motivated and eager to learn. He did summer swimming and started diving at Northwest (Summer Swim Club).”

Hammershock dove in the Hurricanes’ first swim meet of the season against Easton last Tuesday and scored third-place points for Liberty.

“This was a good one against Easton because they do have divers,” Coach Kocis said.

Not all swim teams have divers, and not all divers have swim teams, as is the case with Bethlehem Catholic’s Anna Petke.

Since Becahi doesn’t have a swim team, Petke is allowed to train and dive with Liberty but can’t score points for the Hurricanes. What Petke can do is compete in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, District XI, and PIAA State Diving Championships.

This past March, Petke was a state medalist after placing fourth in Class 2A.

Liberty’s Pooley placed 10th at states in Class 3A.

“[Keller] dove for Northwest and trained with me this summer. She’s been working on her harder dives and getting her degree of difficulty up,” said Kocis. “Anna practiced at Liberty and at Memorial Pool over the summer, and she’s looking very strong.”

Pooley took first place in the diving event during Tuesday’s meet against Easton, scoring 214.05 points.

Newcomers to Liberty diving in addition to Hammershock are Yanna Bozakis, Nicoletta Bozakis, and Makenna Rutkowski.

“This is Yanna’s first time diving,” Kocis said. “She’s previously a gymnast and a Liberty cheerleader so she does come with the flipping and the twisting. It’s just getting the mechanics off the board, but she learned the six dives she needed to compete today in a matter of a week and a half.”

Rutkowski and Nicoletta Bozakis are close to achieving the six dives needed to compete in future swim meets.

Liberty’s next home meet is scheduled for Dec. 20 against William Allen.