Huntington Beach athletes fare well

Clark Pitti and Brandon Loschiavo haven’t been competitive divers for all that long.

But they showed they could handle it at a big-time meet over the weekend, as the pair of Surf City residents competed at the USA Diving Western Junior National Championships.

Pitti, 14, is am eighth grader at Stacey Middle School. He placed 17th of 26 divers in the 14-15 year-old boys’ one-meter competition, scoring 254.30. Pitti was 16th in the three-meter competition, with a total score of 264.95.

Loschiavo, 12, is a sixth-grader at Dwyer Middle School. He was 16th in the 12-13 boys’ one-meter competition (192.20), 15th in the three-meter (208.15) and ninth in the platform dive (166.15).

Pitti and Loschiavo compete at the Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach with McCormick Divers, headed by fellow Huntington Beach resident Debby McCormick. She said it wasn’t too shabby that both divers were in the middle of the pack at Spring Nationals.

“They’re not in high school yet, so they don’t get to dive CIF yet,” McCormick said. “But by the time they do, they’ll be good ones.”

Both divers had to qualify last month in Arizona, at a Region 9 competition. The top six advanced.

“Brandon qualified sixth,” McCormick said. “He hasn’t been diving really long but he did what he had to.”

McCormick Divers was started by the late Glenn McCormick in 1968, when the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool was built for the ’68 Olympic trials. Debby, his wife, is herself a former 10-meter diving champion.

She coached with her late husband for more than 20 years and has also won national tennis titles.