Divers springing high off the 1-meter board were just the start to a WPIAL swimming and diving meet that turned into a record-breaking night for Pine-Richland High School.

Pine-Richland sophomore diver Dominic Giordano and junior Lauren Lamendola not only started the show, but both set team diving records while helping the Rams establish an early lead in a combined section victory over Canon-McMillan Thursday night at the Pine-Richland Natatorium.

The Pine-Richland girls team won by a 95-81 margin, while the boys team went on to a 99-83 victory at the WPIAL swimming and diving meet.

Both Rams teams are 6-0 overall and 2-0 in section competition.

“We saw some very good diving performances and they were rewarded with high scores tonight,” Pine-Richland coach Pete Barry said.

Giordano set a team record in the 1-meter competition with his 284.20 score after six dives.

Giordano lit up the scoreboard and received a loud response from his teammates after racking up scores of 9.0, 8.5 and 8.0 on his first dive, a one-and-a-half somersault with a medium degree of difficulty (1.7).

On his last dive, Giordano had the pool deck buzzing again with scores of 8.5, 8.5 and 8.0 following his inward one-and-a-half somersault with a higher degree of difficulty (2.2).

The degree of difficulty for dives off the 1-meter board varies in the range of 1.0 to 3.0.

Lamendola and Giordano both qualified for the WPIAL diving championships.

Lamendola broke team and pool records with her combined scores after six dives which added up to 288.35. Lamendola also brought her swimming teammates to their feet several times in response to her dives, while often barely causing a noticeable splash.

Pine-Richland’s swimmers did the rest, racking up first-place finishes in every girls swimming event and all but four of the boys events.

Pine-Richland sophomore Kristen Murslack, the current WPIAL Class AAA champ in the 200 individual medley, established a Rams team record in the 200 freestyle with her first-place finishing time of 1:54.59.

Check out Pine-Richland Patch tomorrow for a feature story about Kristen Murslack.