With a new aquatics facility slated for completion this summer, Churchville-Chili’s boys swimming and diving team has called the pool at Spencerport High school home for the last two seasons. Each day, fifteen boys and their coaches bussed to and from Spencerport for practice. When Spencerport wasn’t available, head coach Chelsea Carl found the boys practice time anywhere she could – including Hilton, Gates-Chili, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rush-Henrietta, Canandaigua Academy, and Brighton. Among these traveling athletes was junior diver Jacob Calus. Calus is one of seven juniors on the team, and the only diver on the Saints squad this season. “Jake isn’t just a diver, though,” said diving coach Ricky Lehman-Krebs, “He’s something special, and he’s proven that time and time again.”
Over the last two seasons, Calus has rewritten Churchville-Chili’s record books and established himself as the best diver in the history of Churchville-Chili athletics. He now holds both the six- and 11-dive records. Last season, he first broke the six-dive record, previously held by Churchville-Chili alum and current SUNY Brockport diving coach Scott Horsington. After breaking the record several more times throughout the last two seasons, the six-dive record now stands at 329.95. Calus has also taken home the award for the highest six-dive score in Monroe County for the last two seasons and was named to the All-County First Team for those seasons as well. He first broke the 11-dive record, also held by Horsington, last season with a score of 492.45. After besting this score several times as well, Calus’ record now stands at a 565.50. Calus is the first and only Churchville-Chili diver to break 500 points.
As one of the highest-scoring divers to come out of Section V in the last decade, Calus holds pool records at a couple of neighboring high schools, including Brockport and Gates Chili. As a sophomore, Calus won Class A Diving Sectionals. He has been ranked in the top ten in New York state two years straight for both six- and 11-dive formats and most recently finished ninth at the New York State Championship meet on March 6. This meet consisted of 49 of the best divers in New York state who all had to hit a qualifying score of 450 to be eligible to compete. After qualifying for the State meet last year, Calus came down with a stomach virus the night before. Refusing to remove himself from the biggest competition of the year, Calus pressed on with no warmup and still managed to beat a quarter of his competitors. Coming back this year and finishing ninth was an emotional moment two years in the making for Calus, his coaches, and his family. “Jake’s performance at last year’s State meet was not a measure of his ability or the hard work he put in for months, but a measure of his character,” Coach Carl recalls. “He showed so much heart that day when a million other athletes would have given up.”
When asked about his diving career, Calus said, “Being a diver at this level comes with challenges, and not all of them physical. I have practiced in a total of 11 different pools over the course of my high school career, due to our school’s lack of a pool. So many pools are hard to get used to, especially without any diving teammates, and it’s difficult to not have a place to call home. I just had to keep moving forward and know in my mind and in my heart that failure was never an option.”
“In 12 years, I have never worked with an athlete quite like Jake,’’ said Coach Lehman-Krebs. “He is driven, self-aware, naturally talented, hardworking, kind, and gives me a run for my money daily. We have yet to see the pinnacle of what Jake is capable of.”
The success of Churchville-Chili’s programs was due in part to the generosity of the schools that accommodated both the boys and girls teams over the past two years and serves as a display of the sportsmanship in Section V.
With his senior year still ahead of him and Churchville-Chili’s pool almost completed, Calus is sure to continue winning titles, breaking records, and pushing himself toward greatness.
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