Jake Randazzo: Chapman’s dazzling diver

Photos courtesy of Bella Ortiz, the SCIAC and Jake Randazzo

No practice, all muscle memory.

Junior Jake Randazzo, a communication studies major, was one good dive away from becoming the one-meter board champion at last weekend’s Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Swimming and Diving Championships.

Except, he hadn’t done an inward two-and-a-half somersault tuck in almost a year. And, for the first time all meet, he felt the nerves getting to him.

Randazzo was the life of the party the whole day long. Dancing to music. Cracking jokes with his friends. Catching up with divers from other schools. He excelled when it was his turn to dive, but winning was not the first thing on his mind. Fun was.

In a competitive and pressurized environment, Randazzo brushed it all off.

“When I put the pressure on myself to win, like I had freshman year, that’s when I get a lot more anxious and tend to make mistakes,” he told The Panther.

Even though he had won last year's three-meter championship, and finished second in the 1M, Randazzo wasn’t expecting much this go-around. He hadn’t won an event all season. He said that, throughout the meet, channeling enjoyment was his main focus.

You see, in the fall semester, Randazzo was gallivanting in Europe. Belgium, his choice of study abroad location, gave him a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Forget diving.

With waffles and frites at consistent disposal, and the chance to travel all across another continent, Randazzo couldn’t be blamed for letting his sport take a backseat. He didn’t train at all, but rather caught up with his European friends and saw the sights.

“I really didn’t come in (to the season) with any expectations of even performing well at SCIACs,” he said.

Even without diving practice, Randazzo kept his body in tune while across the Atlantic. Parkour, which involves moving from point A to point B in the most efficient way, is one of his passions. 

He has always been drawn to movement based sports. There’s no need to worry about the ball on the field or what his opponents are doing. For Randazzo, it feels more natural when all he has to worry about is how to contort his own body.

Parkour also provides him with a more creative outlet. Where diving is structured and rigid, he can do whatever he wants on the open pavement. The streets are his canvas.

The air is a more paint-by-numbers form of art, but diving holds a special place in Randazzo’s heart as well.

It’s all about controlling and perfecting motions, he said. It may not give room for creative interpretation, as each dive has to be done a specific way if you want to win, but it puts his brain at ease. There’s nothing to think about, just pure doing.

After returning, Randazzo took a few dives in his pool at home before coming back to Chapman. With only a couple of months to train for the SCIAC championship meet, he needed to shake off the rust as soon as possible.

“It felt like cramming for a test,” he said.

And at the SCIAC championships, Randazzo aced that test.

Thomas Matheis, a freshman for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, had a six point lead in the 1M event after the first eight rounds. To gain an edge, Randazzo added difficulty to each of his three final dives. However, his opponent stretched the lead all the way to 10 after round nine.

Nicknamed “The Dazzler” by his parkour buddies, it has stuck for Randazzo on the diving team as well. His artistry in the air on the final two dives backed up the moniker.

Randazzo added 0.6 difficulty to his penultimate dive. It was risky. But you don’t win anything by playing it safe. Despite his low expectations and bubbly attitude, there was no shot he would lay down the sword.

Randazzo was ready for battle.

Flying in the air at the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium, he finished with his highest score on the night: 60.90. His back one-and-a-half somersault two-and-a-half twist free, which is a dive that looks as complicated as it sounds, was executed well enough to give him a slender 0.05 advantage over Matheis.

It could not have been closer. Matheis had the edge with a more difficult final routine, so Randazzo decided to match him.

Into the inward two-and-a-half somersault tuck they went. Ranked with 3.1 difficulty, the highest of the meet, it simply came down to who performed it better. Randazzo was up first.

With Kendrick Lamar’s album “GNX” bumping in his ears, Randazzo was no longer vibing with those around him. His second-ever SCIAC title was in sight, he had to lock in. Had he even done the dive in the past year? Nope. It was familiar enough, though, as it had been one of his highest scoring descents last season. But that was last season.

Here goes nothing.

“There’s no real reassurance in it,” he said. “It’s kind of just chuck and hope, when it’s a dive like that.”

When he finished, his score for the dive tallied up to 52.70. Matheis was up next and anything under that would secure the win for Randazzo. The waiting game had begun.

What was only a few minutes turned into a millennium as Randazzo held his breath. The entire Chapman dive team gathered around their teammate. A guy who hadn’t been there for most of the year and wasn’t even expecting a chance at a victory, was staring it right in the face.

When the score flashed up for Matheis, it read “46.50.” Randazzo had outlasted his opponent. 

He could have kept his original plan, done it well and walked home with a second place medal. That’s boring though, and Randazzo isn’t a boring person. He travels across Europe, flipping off ledges and jumping from building to building. He dances around the pool deck, bringing a smile to his teammates and opponents. Of course he was going to take a shot at glory.

His teammates swarmed him with hugs and congratulations. Randazzo’s parents watched proudly from the stands, taking pictures and soaking in the moment. 

“I hadn’t won a meet all season,” he said. “I was still coming back from study-abroad-brain, so it’s a funny one to be my first.”

Randazzo also said that he was more relieved than anything to simply complete all of his dives. It was all about the experience. He called being on the podium a “nice bonus,” on top of his joy of being around a community of like-minded people. People who enjoy a sport where body movement is everything. People who joke around and know how to have a good time.

There was no pressure. Perhaps there was nervousness for one moment, but it didn’t seem to truly faze him. Randazzo did what he does best.

He dove. He dazzled. He delivered.