Last year, John Rhodaberger entered the WPIAL Class AAA diving championships seeded sixth before managing a fifth-place finish.

The Butler senior would gladly take that seemingly small jump in status again this season.

That's because it would make Rhodaberger, the No. 2 seed, a district champion.

He will be looking for a performance fitting of a four-time WPIAL qualifier when he arrives at Pine-Richland High School for Saturday's championship.

"The fact that I placed fifth last season, that gave me a lot of confidence entering this year," Rhodaberger said.

He set his career-best score of 285.00 earlier this month in a meet against Seneca Valley.

"John's had a phenomenal season," said Butler diving coach Ken Bedford. "He improved 110 percent from last year, and he had a solid season last year."

Rhodaberger practices two hours a day Monday through Friday. He says he's as motivated about the practice sessions now as he was back in November.

"I go into every practice looking to learn and get better," he said. "I just try to focus and listen to everything Coach Bedford has to say because he was a great diver himself."

Pat Kaiser, a senior teammate of Rhodaberger's, will also compete at Pine-Richland.

He finished 24th at WPIALs last season.

"I'll still be a bit nervous about my dives and going up against the big boys," said Kaiser. "But I've had big improvements this season in my front and back dives."

"He learned a few more dives this year," said Bedford. "That helped in getting his degree of difficulty up."

Also competing in the boys meet will be Butler freshman Heath Calhoun and Seneca Valley sophomores Zach Fiscus and Mike Leroy.

Diana Rocco already has had a big season for Seneca Valley.Now she hopes to make it even more memorable.The junior set SV's girls diving record with a score of 249.35 in a meet against Shaler last month.Rocco placed second at last season's WPIAL meet."I think I could finish in the top three this year," she said. "The two girls seeded ahead of me are very good."Rocco's coach, Maria Misenhelter, agrees."She should be in the top three," said Misenhelter. "She's spent the last few weeks getting higher off the board and working on her entries. At this level, the judges pay a lot of attention to how you enter the water."Joining Rocco at the WPIAL championships will be Butler freshman Brittney Grenet and SV junior Erin Polite."Brittney qualified for WPIALs in our last meet against Seneca Valley," said Bedford. "We were trying all year to do it. This will be a good experience for her.""Erin has really improved with her consistency," Misenhelter said of Polite. "Diana (Rocco) has set the bar high and the other divers are following her."The Class AAA boys' meet will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by the Class AAA girls at 2 p.m.No Butler County divers qualified for the Class AA event.